For a Friend
by OhHeyItsBug
Summary: "People live their lives masking their true-selfs while searching for ways to use others for their twisted desires." Those are the words he lives by, with the lone exception being his best friend, Sayori. However, after being dragged into a club of four beautiful girls, he begins to find the way he views his school and his own life challenged.
1. Chapter 1: Satori pt 2

It's another completely normal day of walking to school, one of those kind of days full of bright sunshine, clear skies, and a slight breeze. The morning birds chirp around me as the increasing chatter of voices surrounds me. These are the perfect kind of days. Completely normal.

"I just want to go home."

And these kinds are the absolute worse.

Everyone else looks all happy and cheery, couples glued to each other's side, friends talking how their summer went, girls discussing fashion, that one kid passing out playing music obnoxiously through his wireless stereo. These kinds of days would be nice, quiet little slices of life. But all these people just have to ruin it!

"I wanna go home…"

Over and over, I repeat these words to myself, hoping that by some divine intervention; a hurricane to blow over, destroying the school for months, resulting in the cancelation of the school year. Or at least rezoning so I wouldn't have to deal with these people.

After another summer of doing nothing in particular, I was less than prepared to wake up before the crack of dawn and deal with people like this. Despite my intense opposition, I'm still walking and making the effort, because I know one thing, deep in my heart:

I have nothing better to do.

The very thought depresses the hell out of me, but it's true. What else would I do? Most days I'd wake up at noon, watch videos online, then eat and sleep. It's was a life of satisfaction but insanely boring after the first month.

"Heeeeeey!" a voice from behind me shouts out.

A cheery little voice comes from behind me, rousing the last bit of sleepiness from my mind. It's then that I remember that there's always one thing to take my mind off of all these _normies. _Turning around, I raise my hand and shout back to the source of the voice.

"Yo, Sayori!"

The two of us running towards each other quickly closes the distance between us, and the moment she's within range, I wrap my arms around her and give her a slight squeeze.

"Wa—Ehehe, someone's excited to see me~"

"Of course I am. Without you here, I had to tolerate all these…normals alone."

Sayori escapes my grasp and attempts to re-orientate herself with the ground. While I might have made it sound like I was alone in this cesspool of social torture, there's always been one person I can rely on, and that's Sayori. I've known this girl for as long as I can remember, which in fairness might not be long considering I can't even remember what I ate for breakfast, but I know that it has at least been like…more than a year. Regardless of the duration of our friendship, I can always count on her smile and cheery attitude to be the oasis in my life.

"Well I'm glad to see you too, it feels like it's been forever since I saw you dressed in something more than a gray shirt and shorts." Sayori smiles slightly and the two of us resume the walk to school. "But it would've been nice if one of those times, you'd let me come over."

"I already told you over the phone, I couldn't let you in."

"That reasonings completely stupid, why can't you—"

"No, I mean literally. I _can't_ let you in. The front door is completely blocked by trash bags and boxes."

"W-What?! Why couldn't you just have thrown any of it away?"

I turn away from Sayori and halt my walking, slightly in embarrassment, and slightly for dramatic effect.

"I saw a rat in the pile."

Sayori stares at me for a while, before slowly placing her hand on my shoulder and staring me dead in the eye with a look of sympathy.

"You're a lot stronger than I."

I place my hand on top of hers gently and smile back.

"You flatter me, my dear."

The two of us nod, having just shared in an intimate moment of understanding with each other, before resuming the tedious walk to school. The stroll isn't eventful, with small talk and catching up being the main focus, until we've made just outside the school entrance. Sayori turns to me just as we turn into the courtyard past the gate.

"You know, I don't think I've seen you speak to anyone but me in years."

Slightly offended, I quickly attempt to counter her accusation.

"What're you talking about? I talk to people all the time…"

Sayori looks genuinely surprised at my declaration, but her expression drops the moment I continue.

"…online."

_Damnit_! She is completely correct. Even online, I only talk to strangers over forum boards, and I wouldn't exactly call those the most _pleasant_ exchanges. Sayori looks like she anticipated that answer, and gives a smile of pity

"Well…I guess that is talking, but you should change that, I couldn't bear it if you become a complete shut-away later in life, sitting in front of your computer, hunched over, watching questionably aged girl dance on Youtu—"

I interrupt her the moment the scenario turns sour and people begin to stare.

"Oi! Why don't you shut up before someone gets the wrong idea, and _what the hell kind of opinion do you have of me?!_"

Giggling, clearly satisfied with herself, she begins to speed up and runs ahead of me.

"I'm just saying, you should try to make some new friends. It'll be nice to have someone else besides me to talk to, right?"

"I guess so, but…"

I look over to both sides of myself, quickly taking a survey of the kinds of people around me. Hmm…some kids smoking pot behind the walls on the right, and I can hear the distant talk of girls discussing their boyfriend's performance in bed.

"These people are the worst!"

In that instance, I realized I may have spoken my mind a bit too freely. All the surrounding groups are looking and glaring in the direction on my voice, no one seems too sure that it was me who blurted that out.

Sayori and I throw our heads to the ground and cover our faces with our hands, hurriedly rushing inside on the school's entrance before someone gets a bit too perceptive.

…

Sayori laughs nervously while the two of us place our belongs in our lockers. "Maybe it would be better for you to practice keeping your thoughts in your head first…"

"W-Well…" I can't really think of a counter-point to that, so I just sigh and agree with her solemnly.

Just as our conversation has dried to silence, the school bell rings, signaling the start of school within 10 minutes. Sayori's energy returns and she turns to me, "Oh! I've got to run! I'll see you later~ We can discuss fixing your loneliness later.". With a smile and an embarrassingly exaggerated wave, she says goodbye, before running down the right corridor. I throw a small little gesture her way then turn into the corridor opposite of her and shuffle my way through the groups of students to my class.

"Wow, that girl is like _way_ too energetic for this early in the morning."

"Right? What is she so happy about? It's the first day back."

…

"Did you hear about that one quiet chick in our physics class?"

…

"Oh my god, he's been spreading shit about me _all_ summer! It's starting to piss me off."

…

"Last night was incredible~"

…

"You see the hips on her? Like…damn."

…

Ugh, I hate being so close to all these kinds of people. The guys are all judgmental creeps and the girls are over-sexual animals…I wish I hadn't broken my earbuds, least then I could drown out their talking. Reaching into my pocket, I pull out a sheet of paper listing all the classes I have this year. First period is…all the way at the end of the corridor, _great_. More people I have to listen to.

Opening the door to my first period, I see that most people have already gotten back into their old groups, and the teacher is still absent. Thankfully, the seats in the back haven't been claimed by anyone, so I hurriedly rush over and place myself in the one furthest back. The groups nearby seemed to notice my anxious sprint towards the desk, and briefly seem to talk about me before returning to their prior conversation.

"Like I was saying, you remember that loud chick in geometry last year…"

Reaching into my pocket, I pull out my phone and distract myself by scrolling through various social media sites mindlessly. "Friends, huh?" It's not like I've never had any before, I used to have a small group back when I was 12 or so, but since then I've mostly kept to myself. It's not like I don't want friends but that's just how it worked out. Minus Sayori, my friend count is nonexistent…

The bell snaps me out of my funk, and the teacher walks through the door, signaling the start of class. I tuck away my phone and start another average school day.

…

The final bell of the day rings and the teacher rapidly attempts to finish his speech before all the students rush out of the room, "Just remember to have a notebook for this Friday, alright?". Everyone around me had already packed up their belongs minutes before the final bell, and most have already pushed their way into the main hallway, but I sit slumped over at my desk, blankly staring at my phone.

"Tonight is the…no, that was yesterday…"

I mumble to myself as I try to recall if I have any plans or something of the sort tonight. As I'm doing that, a certain chipper girl walks up behind me and covers my eyes.

"Gotcha!~"

"Ah! I've been caught by the cinnamon monster of the upper-west side!" I feign terror and flail around pathetically.

"That's right! And I won't let you free until you buy me some chips from the vending machine."

"Downright dastardly! I won't falter! Even to you!"

"Then I'll just-"

Sayori's grip around my neck tightens and I can slowly feel the blood flow to my brain trickle dry. I quickly need a retaliation! Summoning all my inner strength, I say-

"Ya know, you never appreciate the size of those puppies till they're pressed against you _real close~_"

"W-W-What?!"

Sayori immediately drops her hold and backs away from me, a sense of panic in her voice.

"I win!"

"Hey! You were just teasing me!"

"And it worked like a charm, my dear!"

"I'm not giving up until I've gotten those chips."

"Hmmm, only if you let me cop a feel!"

"Erm…never mind, I'm not hungry."

I cheer to myself; this way of dealing with Sayori may not be very gentlemanly of me, but it's effective. It's a good thing I'm so amazing at acting like a creep.

"Yeah, 'acting'." Sayori responded, nervous.

"Huh? Was I talking out loud again?"

Sayori giggles "Only that last bit~ Come on, let's go home already since you ruined my appetite."

She pouts a little saying that last bit, desperately trying to get me to change my stance. But I must remain firm.

"Oh, don't be dramatic. You'll be hungry again in like 2 minutes."

"Will you buy me chips then?"

"Tell you what. I'll buy you chips if you pay back all the money I've spent on buying you cinnamon sticks whenever I order Pizza."

"W-What?! That's unfair, you _know_ I love cinnamon sticks! I can't possibly ever repay that."

"Aw, come on, Sayori. It can't be that much, it's not like you've ever _stolen my card info to buy sweets, right?_"

"T-That was one time! And I was _very _hungry! You can't hold it against me forever."

"Watch me."

She turns away from me huffily and crosses her arms, making an exaggerated pouting sound and I chuckle slightly to myself. I had forgotten how much fun it is being around Sayori.

"Come on, you know I can't ever actually be mad at you, it's like being mad at a puppy. It's morally and objectively wrong."

My reassurance doesn't convince her though, as she continues to make overly dramatic loud motions. At least, for another 10 seconds before her attention is caught by something else. In front of us, a girl is walking out of the faculty office holding various pieces of paper. Sayori's mood shifts back to her usual cheeriness and she tries to wave down the attention of the girl.

"Hey! Monika!"

As the girl turns her face towards us. I realize the identity of this "Monika".

_Oh god, it's her._

Monika. Everyone knows Monika, it's impossible to go more than ten minutes in this school and _not_ hear her name. She's probably the most popular girl in school, the queen of the social hierarchy, which means…_she's my mortal enemy!_ She greets the two of us with a smile and waves back towards Sayori. I hide behind her slightly, using her a barrier between me and Ms. Perfect.

"Oh, hello Sayori~ I didn't expect to see anyone I knew here this late."

"Ehe, well, I had to go grab this guy here so we can walk home together~ What're _you_ doing here though?"

"Ah, I'm glad you asked!~"

Monika shuffles through her handful of papers before reaching into the middle of the pile and pulling out a sheet and handing it to Sayori. It's labeled "Club Application" and beneath it are various blanks and spaces for information to be filled out, Sayori takes a quick glance at it all before turning back to Monika.

"_gasp _Monika, are you forming a club?!"

"Well, it's more I'm _thinking_ of creating one but—"

"That sounds amazing! What kind of club are you making?"

"Aha, It's a secret, Sayori~"

Sayori pouts, not too happy about something being hidden from her, but she seems a lot more willing to let this one slide compared to my previous attack. Monika lets out a small giggle at seeing Sayori's childish attitude.

"Well, I'm going to need some help when I _do_ make this club, so I would appreciate it greatly if I could have your help if the time comes."

The proposition perks Sayori up immediately and a flame of excitement shines in her eyes.

"Really? That sounds like fun! Of course, I'll help. Oh-!"

Sayori's expression shifts to that of realization and I feel a cold chill go down my spine. "My friend can help too—"

Of course, I can't let this go on for too long, lest she makes promises she can't keep. Placing my hand on her shoulder, I ask Monika-

"Can you excuse the two of us for a second?"

And pull my loose-lipped friend over to my side. Sayori doesn't seem to understand exactly what's going on.

"My dear, dear cinnamon bun. What _exactly_ were you about to promise to her?"

"Wha-? Just that we can help out!"

"Exactly. Now, take a minute and ruminate on this thought, when exactly were you both of our votes?"

"Fumigate…? Oh! You mean 'think'! Well, it's not like you have anything better to do, right? So why wouldn't you offer to help Monika out? Didn't you say you wanted to make new friends?"

"Oi, first, you didn't need to insult me there, and second, I never promised I'd do _anything._"

"But why not? There's a perfect opportuna right in front of you!"

"Opportun_ity_ and I don't know about that. I don't trust girls like her…Just look at her. That sultry look, that hourglass figure, those thighs! She's a succubus!"

"You do realize I can hear you, right?"

Ignoring Monika's question—

"See?! Supernatural hearing! The devil's women!"

"That might be because you're yelling 'THIGHS!' super loud…"

"Regardless, I don't want to help her out. It cuts into my free time."

"You can look at internet forums on the weekends! Come on, please? Monika's my friend and it'd mean a lot to me if you could help me out by helping her out."

"_Ugh…_Fffffine!"

Sayori's smiles so bright, it could pierce even the deepest, darkest corner of hell, and quickly turns around to tell Monika the good news. I sigh and resign myself to this new role of mine.

"Well…maybe her plans won't go anywhere…That's the only hope my afternoons have."

…

School comes to an end, and despite how long it seems to drag, the Sun is still high in the sky. Along the path back home, there are only one or two groups of friends, as the rest rushed out the moment school let out. To my right, Sayori is happily skipping along, humming a little tune to herself. She seems a bit too happy about this whole club thing, but whatever gets her off, I guess. Just as it seems the walk will be completely silent, she turns to me.

"So~ Are you excited?" She says through a smile.

"Not really? I made it clear I didn't really wanna help."

"Oh, come on. You don't have to keep that act up. I know you just didn't wanna help because she's really pretty."

"W-What?!"

"You don't have to be so shy though! Monika's really kind."

"I wasn't shy."

Sayori giggles, and gives me an impish gaze. "Really?~"

"Yes. Really. Her being pretty had _nothing_ to do with my reluctance."

Not anticipating such a deadpanned response, Sayori's rhythm seems to be have been thrown off, and she lets out a quiet "O-Oh…"

I quickly try to reassure her by explaining myself.

"It's not like I hate her or anything but…Come on. You've had to hear the stories about her."

"Stories? Those are just rumors, though! You shouldn't believe it just because-"

"I don't. Honestly, I loathe people like that, they're just judgmental pricks, but—It's so widespread, I've even heard the teachers discussing it. If they know something, then clearly there must be _some_ truth to them, right?"

Sayori's mood seems to take a dip and she stops skipping and slowly trudges along. "W-Well…maybe…"

"A-AH! Lemme just say, we can't know for sure, right? So I wouldn't believe everything 100%. It was just food for thought."

"Well, personally…I think she's a great person…" She mumbles this to herself and continues walking beside me without saying much else. The conversation turns awkward and we spend the rest of the walk in silence.

…

We reach my house after another 10 minutes of silence. The two of us stop in place and give our goodbyes.

"I'll see ya tomorrow, alright?"

"Mhm."

Sayori only gives a slight nod in response, and I slowly turn away from her and begin to walk inside. Before I get too far, she speaks up-

"You know, you don't have to help her if you don't want to."

"Huh? But we already—"

"It's fine, I can just tell her you're too busy. I wouldn't want to…make you do something you don't wanna."

"Sayori, it's not—"

"I have to get going! See you tomorrow, alright?" She says with a smile before quickly dashing away, leaving me mid-sentence. I sigh to myself before heading inside, reflecting on the days ahead.

…

The following morning he's nowhere to be found. I stand outside his house for 10 minutes before accepting that he won't show, so I begin the walk to school alone. To my right and left, the street is speckled with groups of friends laughing and smiling with each other, despite the early hour. It fills me with a sense of loneliness and guilt. _Maybe I pushed him too much and now he's uncomfortable with being around me. Or maybe because of my pushing, he's found someone new to hang out with, and he's decided to walk with them instead…_The rest of the walk is spent like this, endlessly questioning and worrying. I don't even realize when I _do_ reach the school and nearly bump into someone.

"A-Ah, I'm sorry."

"Tch, shit, that hurt…Watch where you're going next time, alright?"

"Y-Yeah, sorry…"

Hurriedly walking away, I make my way to the lockers. Behind me, I can hear the girl I ran into speak to her friends.

"Some people just pay no attention, huh?"

"Oh come on, don't be so mean. She just seems like an airhead, it's probably just how she is."

I put away my things and make my way down the corridor to my classroom, trying not to draw more attention to myself. Once I reach class, I quietly take a seat and simply wait for class to start, listening to bits and pieces of other people's conversations.

"You ever realize just how many kids here smoke?"

…

"Why does everyone have to be such an asshole?! I can't even pee in peace anymore…"

…

"Yeah, her. Don't you think she's kind of cute?"

…

"Oh no, she's, like, totally a slut."

…

…

…

"Excuse me, Miss Sayori?"

"W-Wha?"

All of a sudden, I'm awoken from my daydreaming by the teacher, who waves a hand in front of my face.

"Are you alright, Miss Sayori? School ended around 10 minutes ago, but you're still here."

"O-Oh, ehehe, I just lost track of time. Sorry~"

Rising to my feet, I grab ahold of my bag and say goodbye to the teacher. Out in the hallway, I only see one or two students still running around, seeming to be those in clubs or the various sports teams.

"Oh crap! I forgot about him, what if he's waiting for—"

I'm briefly thrown into a panic as I remember that I might be holding him up. I mentally slap myself before rushing over to his classroom. Once there, I swing open the door violently and find that—

"He's not here…"

Confirming his absence, I look around the class before quietly shutting the door with a sigh. _Of course, he wouldn't have waited up for me, he didn't this morning. What am I? Stupid? _I turn to leave, trudging my feet across the squeaky marble flooring, feeling like an idiot for keeping my hopes so high. To my side, I hear the door of the staff room swing open and from it Monika immerges.

"Oh, Sayori. It's good to see you."

"Hey, Monika. What're you doing here?"

"Ah, I'm glad you asked! I actually just finished up the preparations for my club, so that means—"

"You can officially form it?! Oh, I'm so happy for you!"

"Ahaha, thank you. I wouldn't have been able to do it without your friend's help though."

"Without—wait, what?"

From behind Monika, I hear another set of footsteps approaching and the figure of a young man slowly approaching, carrying a small set of papers. To my surprise, it's—

…

"O-Oh…uhhm…hey, Sayori."

As I walk into the hallway, I'm surprised to find Sayori speaking to Monika. She looks to be just as surprised and a bit confused. Monika continues a conversation she seemed to be having with her.

"Yep, just like I was saying, he's been a huge help with getting all of it ready. He even woke up early to help me with the flyers."

"A-Ah, you don't need to praise me, I was just doing what I promised."

"Oh no, you went above what I expected. You're such a sweetheart."

"A-Ahaha…"

Being pelted with compliments isn't something I'm used to, especially from someone pretty, so my face is quick to burn up with embarrassment.

"Well, that's enough for today, assistant."

Monika takes the papers I was carrying and begins to make her way down the corridor.

"I'll see you two tomorrow for the first official Club meeting, right?~"

"Aha…maybe."

With another smile, Monika turns around and disappears down the hallway. To my left, Sayori's starring towards the ground fidgeting.

"Is something wrong?" I ask her.

"O-Oh, no, it's nothing. I just…wasn't expecting to see you here. I thought you…didn't want to help out someone like Monika."

"W-Well, that's…"

It's true, I really didn't want anything to do with that girl, but…

"Monika's your friend, right? Helping her out seemed to really mean a lot to you, and I felt bad that I just…shut that down so quick. So I thought I should make it up to you, ya know?"

Sayori looks at me for a while, not saying much, before giving me one of her signature smiles and wrapping her arms around me.

"Ehehe~ You're such a sweetheart~"

"Wha-Hey! Come on, Sayori! Let me go! This is embarrassing!"

"Nope! You left me all alone this morning, you _at least_ owe me a big hug!"

"W-Well…"

I sigh to myself, not able to come up with any sort of retort and decide to just let her have her fun.

"I guess that makes the death of my free time official, huh?"

Starting tomorrow, I'm an official club member, though, for some reason, I'm not dreading the idea as much as I was before. _Tho, maybe I've just accepted the inevitable._ Whatever the reason…

…

I can't help but find myself smiling.


	2. Chapter 2: Dukkha

"Okay, you two! I've just finished getting the last thing a club needs: A club room!"

It's another normal day when Monika approaches me and Sayori in the hallway, announcing her success in finding a usable room. It's been a few days since I helped Monika out with paperwork and since then she's been asking around to find a room that's available every day after school. Guess she's finally been successful.

"Oh, that's great! That means the three of us can start hanging out like a real club!"

Sayori's enthusiasm shoots through the room as her face morphs into an elated smile.

"Mhm, I'm actually about to head down to the room and check it out. I was wondering if you two had the time to join me."

Sayori nods energetically, murmuring "Uh-huh" over and over. Monika's stare turns towards me.

"Sure, not like I have plans."

"Great! Follow me!"

Monika leads us out of the classroom and upstairs-a section of the school I rarely visit, being generally reserved for third-year classes and activities. Once up the stairs, it's only a few classes before Monika comes to a stop in front of one of the rooms.

"Here we are. Our clubroom."

Swinging open the door-

We are greeted to a generic-looking classroom, with desks aligned in rows and shelves in the back. Looking around, I can tell that this room isn't used, or at least as regularly as most of the other classes. Although, something feels…off.

"Hm, looks nice." I say, mostly just to break the silence. Sayori is the first to respond

"It looks amazing! It's all clean and tidy!"

"Well, that's probably just because it's never used enough to get dirty. This room is apparently reserved for supplementary lessons."

Ah, that explains the anguish in the air….

Walking over to the blackboard, Monika seems to take a moment to fully take in her surroundings. She takes a deep breath and stretches.

"So…it's finally happening," Monika says this quietly and smiles, almost like she can't fully what's going on. Sayori motions me over silently, and I walk to her side, slightly confused.

"Hey, hey, doesn't Monika look really happy right now?"

"Hmm, yeah, I guess so."

"Ehehe~ Looks like your efforts paid off, huh?" Sayori smiles coyly.

"Shut up." And I flick her in the face.

"Owie…"

"Okay you two, let's get out of here. We wouldn't want to bother the teachers."

The two of us nod in agreement and we three head back into the hallway.

"Alright, so, I think we should spend the rest of the week trying to get other members. While we have all the paperwork done, our school's restrictions require that there be at least four members in a club before we're given any official recognition. So make sure to tell your friends!"

"Ooh, alright! I'll try my best!" Sayori's spirit is fired up and I can sense the determination oozing off of her.

Gross.

I, on the other hand, give a somewhat flimsy "Yeah, I'll keep it in mind." and keep a neutral expression. I don't feel like I could be much help here, but I should at least pretend.

"We'll meet here on Friday after school. Sound good?"

Sayori and I nod in confirmation and part ways with Monika after she and Sayori exchange numbers. Walking down the stairs, Sayori turns to me and says

"Hey, do you think you could let me handle this?"

"Uh, sure? But why though?"

"Well, ehehe…I feel like I should do something considering you and Monika did most of the work before-hand." Sayori looks genuinely guilty for being lazy, which is definitely a first for her.

"…Pigs must have grown wings."

"Wha—"

"Nothing. Don't worry, I didn't plan on actually doing much anyways."

"Ooh, because you don't have any friends?"

"Want me to smack you?"

"Ehehe, sorry."

"I'm starting to think your apologies are as hollow as your brain."

"Wha-Hey!"

Sayori quickly realizes her pride has been insulted and throws a half-serious furious glare at me. I refuse to humor her and kept my eyes keenly forward. The bottom floor was the emptiest part of the school. Unlike the upper floors, there were no club rooms or activities here, this first floor had nothing but a library, the faculty office, and some classrooms. Sayori's grumpy stare slowly returned to its normal appearance and she soon begins to skip along once more.

…

Soon, our walk had reached its end and I waved goodbye to Sayori as I walked inside my house. Greeting me was the usual scene, an empty living room, and a kitchen still littered with plates from breakfast. I didn't feel like cleaning them up right now, so I just threw my bag onto the couch and headed upstairs to change out of this dirty uniform.

…

"Make sure to tell your friends!"

…

"Ooh, because you don't have any friends?"

…

The base of my chair creaked as I lean my weight towards the back. I sit there, staring at my cluttered desktop, always landing back on those words. It seems ridiculous to be so caught up on not having friends, right? It's a much better investment to keep out of the social circles of kids my age, eavesdropping on other's conversations hasn't exactly shown a pretty picture. Yet—I can't quite erase this feeling in the pit of my heart. "Ah, whatever," I say to myself, leaning forward and clicking on some shortcut on my desktop.

"Not that big of a deal."

…

The next day at school was about the same as always. Sayori wouldn't be walking with me, as she was apparently busy looking for recruits. Though, as I step into the hallway—

"You see that video on Snapchat of that girl's speech during lunchtime?"

"The one with the girl in a bear costume?"

"Yeah! I was actually there during her lunch!"

"Whoa-really?!"

"Yeah! I'm just sitting there, talking to people, then this chick just steps up on a table, full bear costume, and starts yelling about a club"

I can clearly see how _that's_ going. The school day's already over, and I find myself falling into the same rhythm of the day, one step after another.

It takes me a full 4 minutes before I smack my head into a wall, snapping me back to reality. I take a moment to remember where I am, before realizing I've walked myself into the other half of the school.

"_sigh _Alright-well-"

I turn around and make my way to the front entrance. To my left, I catch a glance of an empty library and stop in my tracks.

"Oh, because you don't have any friends?"

Those words return to me, and the impact of them seems to sink in more than last night. Before I realize it, I'm sliding open the door. I place my belongings near a chair and look around the room to see if there's anyone around. Unfortunately, I find no one. Sighing to myself, I look at the shelf and find something that seems interesting to me, deciding on a book titled "1984". I'm not too sure what this is but I'm fairly sure I've heard the name before. Sitting down, I—

"I'm bored."

Closing the book, I sigh to myself in frustration. I decide instead to just go home and read some manga. While I'm reaching for my bag, I notice something crucial. There's been a girl right in front of me this whole time.

_Holy shit, am I losing it? I didn't see this chick at all._

The girl doesn't seem to have noticed me either, as she is deeply engrossed in her book, her face showing deep entrancement. Her long hair flows down past her cheek and over the chair behind her, and her eyes are a deep violet. She seems to radiate an aura of maturity and calmness, perhaps explaining why I completely overlooked her. Her beauty is almost overwhelming, making it impossible to fully take in all her features. Being so enraptured by her has caused me to miss another important trait:

She's been staring at me for 2 minutes.

And I've been staring back.

Saying nothing. At. All.

…

_AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA_

_WHAT AM I DOING JUST LOOKING AT HER SILENTLY LIKE A TOTAL CREEP?! _

An endless amount of panic flushes throughout every single vein in my body and it overwhelms even the slightest of motor functions I have, keeping me from looking away or even apologizing. I can only watch as her expression changes from embarrassment to confusion, then to slight fear. Her mouth slowly parts and speaks up.

"E-Excuse me, but…is there something you need from me?"

_Come on! Say something! Just force something-anything!"_

"…You."

"M-Me…?"

"Have gigantic breasts."

_Goddamn it…_

The girl's face quickly flairs up and she begins looking around nervously before reaching for her bag. She stuffs her book into it hastily and quickly stands up and makes her way to the door.

"I-I'm sorry, but I can't help you!"

With a ferocious amount of energy, she swings open the door and runs out into the hallway, leaving me in the quiet, empty library. The world around me slowly starts to spin, and I can feel the full force of gravity being exerted on my body-

"Oh wait, I'm just falling out of my chai—"

**THUD!**

…

The floor is nice. I think I'll live here forever. I mean, what things do floors have to worry about? Being stepped on? I can do that. Moshimoshi, Floor-kun here!

…

It takes me 10 minutes before I dare to stand up again.

…

Once at home, I silently crawl into bed and scream into my pillow, cursing myself and my lack of social-prowess for a solid hour. It takes around another 30 minutes before I'm able to conjure up the determination to leave my bed, but I manage to pull through and seat myself in my computer chair.

"Right, I was reading this manga then I passed out at my desk…."

Scrolling up, I attempt to remind myself of the plotline before I reach a certain page of the scan. On it, some Loli is dressed scantily and is attempting to cover the exposed parts of her skin while maintaining a huge blush on her face. All of a sudden, I chill runs down my spine, as if a malevolent presence is slowly approaching—

"Hi!~"

_—Yeah, that sounds about right. _From behind me, the door to my room swings and reveals to me Sayori's bright radiance. The loud smack of the door against my wall causes me to jump out of my seat and be reunited with the floor.

"Hello, Sayori."

"What's—Eh? What're you doing on the floor?"

"I've just decided to become a plank of wood."

"I think you need to be skinny to be a plank of wood."

"Thank you for this enlightenment, now can you help me up?"

"Ehehe, alright, here."

Sayori bends down and extends her hand towards me. As I grab ahold of her though, her gaze quickly turns up towards my monitor and her entire body seems to freeze for a few seconds, and some beads of sweat run down my forehead as I remember what I left it on.

"Uh…I can explain."

From her phone speaker, I can hear—

"911, what's your emergency?"

"Yes, hello, I think my friend might be a pedophile."

"Oi."

"No, no, it's just…I've found some photos on his computer and—"

"Stop that! I don't need a police raid at my house!"

…

I quickly reached for her phone and attempted to pry it out of her hand. The operator on the other side was probably extremely confused as to what all the ruckus was, but I manage to convince them that it was just a prank call.

…

After being lectured by the operator, I've found my way back into my computer chair and Sayori's gotten her place on my bed. I close my taps and spin around to face her.

"So—why exactly did you feel the need to storm in here and threaten my public record?"

"I only planned on the first thing, I didn't expect to learn that you're into 5th graders."

"They're fake so they don't count."

"I'm more just worried that someone else won't see it the same way….Oh! But that's not important, what _is_ though is that I've found someone for Monika's club!"

"Really? So your bear-recruitment went well?"

"Eh? Bear-recruitment? What are you talking about?"

"You know, the bear-costume you used to lure people in?"

"What? I never used a bear costume, I just went around and asked people."

_Wait, if the bear wasn't Sayori…what kind of people go to our school?!_ I shake my head and try to drop the subject entirely from my mind.

"Nevermind, who'd you end up getting?"

"Ehehe~ That's a secret~"

"So you just came here to gloat, huh?"

"Wha-no! It'd ruin the surprise if I told you!"

"Surprise?...well, alright…"

Knowing Sayori, it wouldn't really be too shocking if the surprise ended up being that they didn't even exist but—looking at how excited she seems, I have a feeling she's got someone special.

"Oh, hey, did you hear that our school might have a stalker?"

"What? A stalker?"

"Yeah—I heard about it on the way home, apparently, some guy was staring this girl down in the library, someone in the library took a video of the whole thing. I'll see if I can find it."

_There was someone **else** there too?!_

"Sayori, you've taught me something important today…"

"Eh?"

_This world just hates me…_

…

The week passes by in a flash, with nothing of note happening besides Sayori attempting to con me out of 5 bucks. Before I realize it, Friday comes; Monika approaches me and Sayori on the way to class and reminds us to come by the club room after school. Today comes to an end as quickly as the other days, and I find myself back in front of the clubroom without my other-half. Waiting for Monika, I think back on what Sayori said:

"Alrighty, you get up to Monika! _I'm_ going to get our new club member!"

I can't help but feel a small bit of excitement in seeing who Sayori got, though, it's not like I'll really need to worry about them too much. To my side, I hear the unlocking of the club door and out steps Monika, radiating her usual sense of grace, causing me to instinctively stand up straighter.

"Oh, you're here already, that's great. I just got done talking to our newest member."

"This mean I can finally meet them?"

"Of course!~ Here, step on in, let me introduce you to—"

Walking into the room, I see a quick glance of Monika bag, which appears to be neatly organized, and some other papers laying on the desk next to it. However, this thing to obviously catch my gaze is the new member who is—

"O-Oh, i-it's you…."

_The girl from the libraryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy~_

I can feel the sound of my heart beating and my brain yells at me in union to run home and hide immediately, but Monika closes the door behind us, closing my one route of escape.

"H-Hello, again…" I say, mustering up a meek voice and wave. Monika chimes in quickly.

"Oh, have you two already met? That makes introductions much quicker."

"W-Well…we've only exchanged a few words. I don't know her at all, really."

"Well, then this is perfect, a chance to connect deeper with someone you've already been acquaintanced with! This is Yuri, I met her after school I got done with practice and asked her if she was interested in joining our little club."

"It's…a pleasure to meet you formally." Yuri slowly extends her hand to offer a handshake, which I return awkwardly.

"Yeaaah, it is…"

"Um…would you mind telling me _your_ name?"

"Oh-of course, my name is—" Before I can finish, Monika jumps in.

"This is my lovely assistant~ You can refer to him as Mr. Secretary."

"Oi, I have a real name you k—"

"Alright, I hope we get along, Mr. Secretary…"

"I feel like I'm being ignored."

Monika giggles, clearly amused with her, while Yuri looks around, clearly feeling uncomfortable having run into the guy who stared her down.

"Alright, well before we get into club affairs, we should wait for Sayori to get b—"

As Monika begins her speech, Sayori slams open the door, bounding with her staple amount of energy into the room, with a girl in tow. She immediately heads to Monika:

"Hey hey! I'm here! Sorry if I'm late, I had to help her find her way here."

The girl behind Sayori quickly retorts "In other words, she got lost."

"Wha-I told you to keep that secret!" Sayori, embarrassed at being exposed, pouts angrily at her friend. Monika walks past the flustered pile of cinnamon and gives a smile to the new face.

"Hello, my name is Monika, and welcome to our club. I assume you're the girl who Sayori has been speaking about?"

"Yeah, I guess I am. Thanks for having me, or something…" The girl seems to be as put-off by Monika as I am and avoids staring at her directly, choosing to stare towards the ground slightly.

"Well you came at a good time, we had just finished our other introductions. Mind giving us your name?"

The girl seems a little uncomfortable with all the eyes on her, but she quickly throws that embarrassment aside and looks towards us all.

"My name is Natsuki, I'm a friend of Sayori's, thank you for having."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, my name is Yuri, I'm new here myself."

"And the boy over there is the club's secretary~"

"You're committed to that bit, huh?"

Sayori, having recovered, walks over to the four of us.

"Woah! You got promoted?! Congratulations!"

"It feels more like a demotion if anything…"

Monika snaps her fingers, bringing each of our eyes to her; She has made her way behind the teacher's desk.

"Now that everyone is here, we can finally begin the first official meeting of…

The Literature Club!"

Sayori pumps a fist into the air and yells "Yay!", Yuri and Natsuki awkwardly follow along, Monika then looks to me causing me to feel nervous.

"Uhm…"

"Come on, Assistant, we're all club members now, you have to participate!"

"Well, it's just that—" Sayori joins Monika in encouraging me, throwing another fist into the air.

"Yeah! Join us!" Natsuki and Yuri look towards me with expectant eyes and confused expressions. Hesitantly, I lift my arm and let out a small 'yay' with others.

"Wait, did you say Literature clu—"

"Alright, now, if I could have some help, I need us to form a small table out of the desks here. Sayori? Assistant?"

"On it, Ms. Club President!"

Sayori and I walk to the back of the room and start to arrange the desks into a makeshift table, with one desk facing the rest for Monika. Taking our places, we wait for Monika to give further instruction.

"Okay, you guys! Since we know each other's names, why don't we play a little introduction game to get ourselves more familiar with each other? After all, I want this club to be one where everyone is comfortable to be themselves." Looking around, it's clear Natsuki and Yuri are a little uncomfortable with this idea, but they both are staring at Sayori whose smile seems to be their one saving grace. Can't blame them, _I'm doing the same._

"Sounding a bit like a teacher, Monika."

"Why do you think they always insist on it, Assistant? Even if you don't end up remembering any of the people there, it's much better to break the ice early on rather than sit awkwardly for a month."

"I guess so…" I scratch the back of my head, still extremely unsure about this idea, but I can't really say I'm _against_ it. Monika continues on, reaching into her bag and pulling out a game die, Sayori reaches next to her feet and grabs a cup, containing labeled popsicle sticks.

"The rules of this game are simple enough, each of us will take turns rolling a dice, and the person with the highest number will pull a question out from the cup and read it out loud before answering it."

A game of chance through and through sounds like Sayori thought of this idea. In all the years I've known her, she's always had the most impeccable luck. Yuri, who is sitting next to Sayori, chimes in.

"What if two people were to roll the same number?"

"If it happens, then the two will simply roll again. So, let's begin!"

Starting from Monika and going clockwise, we each are handed the die and roll it, the scores end up being—

**Monika: 2**

**Sayori: 1**

**Yuri: 5**

**Natsuki: 4**

**Me: 2**

_Lucky this time. _Yuri, realizing her defeat, looks over to the cup, seeming to meditate on which to stick to pull, before reaching in and pulling one out. She begins to read it out.

"' Why did you choose the Literature Club?' Hm…well, when Monika approached me and told me about the club's premise, I thought the idea was very appealing, so I agreed to check it the following day." Natsuki's follows up—

"Sounds a lot nicer than how Sayori convinced me." Looking suspiciously at Sayori, I press for further detail.

"What do ya mean?"

"Well, she told me about this place around Tuesday and asked if I wanted to join and I said no. But then she came back the next day and asked again, this time following me during lunch. Finally, on Thursday, she startled me while I was washing my hands, so I agreed to get her off my back." Monika giggles nervously and gives Natsuki an apologetic smile.

"I apologize on behalf of my pet," I remark.

"Hey! It's not as bad as it sounds! Yuri, you believe me, right?"

"W-Well…er…"

"Wah Yuri, not you too!"

Natsuki laughs at Sayori's pathetic display, while Yuri tries to fend off Sayori's pressing. At that time, Monika starts to roll and the rest of the gang regains their focus. The scores end up resulting with:

**Monika: 4**

**Sayori: 1**

**Yuri: 3**

**Natsuki: 5**

**Me: 4**

_Whew…close call…_Natsuki reaches into the cup and shuffles the sticks around roughly before pulling out a stick at random, reading it out loud.

"' What is your favorite form of literature?' Uuu…that's…" She appears extremely hesitant to answer that question and looks to Monika as if asking for an escape. Before Monika can say something though, Sayori blurts out an answer.

"Oh! That's easy, it's definitely Manga!"

"Sayori!" Natsuki exclaims angrily, which Sayori responds to with sticking her tongue out cheekily. Those two get into a small argument, however, this becomes background noise as I focus on a much more pressing issue. _A girl who reads manga! I've only heard of these breeds in legends and harem series! _Maybe this is the surprise Sayori was referring to, someone with my taste. How'd she even find a girl like this?! Are there more?! Do these kinds run in packs?! Where can I—

"Heey~ Are you in there?" Sayori snaps me out of my delusion by waving her hand in front of my face, everyone's attention has been drawn to me and I quickly realize why; It's my turn to roll the dice. _Alright, I must try and learn as much about Natsuki as possible! Dear God, hear my words and desires…_

**Monika: 6**

**Sayori: 1**

**Yuri: 4**

**Natsuki: 1**

**Me: 5**

As the scores are revealed, I learn that there is no god and decide to convert myself once I get home. Monika reaches into the cup and gently swirls the sticks around before deciding on one. She briefly looks over the question before her face falls to one of nervousness and she looks over at Sayori.

"Sayori, don't you think this question is kind of…personal?" She leans over and allows Sayori to read the question herself.

"But games like this need some fun, right? This question is normal for games like this."

"I suppose…" Calming herself, Monika begins to read the question out loud.

"' When was your first kiss?' Ehehe…well…" Monika's voice slowly softens as she works up the courage to answer.

"I haven't…actually kissed someone yet…" The group is quickly taken by surprise, even Sayori doesn't seem to quite believe her.

"I know many have already had their first boyfriends or something, but I just…never had the time for something like that. There was always something else I needed to focus on, so I just never got around to that sorta thing…" Natsuki is the first of us to speak up.

"That's quite surprising, Ms. School Idol. I was dead-sure you were the most mature out of all of us. To think, you're so far behind…".

Yuri counters Natsuki, "Well, it's not like kissing someone is much of a milestone or proof of maturity, it's simply a form of affection. Besides, I'm willing to guess there's at least one other person here who hasn't had their first kiss."

_Even if she couldn't know, Yuri has hit so close to home…_

"Not me, I had my first kiss when I was 15 after school," Natsuki replies, seeming proud of being ahead of Monika.

Sayori laughs nervously, "Ehehe~ I had mine at 14. It was during a family get-together." Monika expresses confusion, "Wait, what—"

Yuri cuts her short, and continues the confessions with "Oh, I had mine a bit early when I was 11".

"Oh? What's the story there?"

"That's…" Yuri clams up at Natsuki's questioning and retracts into a state of embarrassment. Monika senses the direction this conversation is heading and quickly regains control of the situation.

"Okay, you four, I think that's enough for today~ It's getting quite late, and I don't want to hold you all too long on the first day." She ends the game rather early, collecting the cup and die from each of us and placing them into a bag. "Awwh…" Sayori pouts as her fun is drawn to a close. The four of us rearrange the desk back to their original formation and collect our bags, waving goodbye to Monika, who opts to stay behind for a little while longer. Sayori and I eventually part with Natsuki and Yuri who head in the opposite direction from the school's gate. Along the way home, Sayori and I discuss the day.

"Soo~ What'd you think of my surprise?"

"I got to admit, I wasn't expecting you to bring someone with the same interests as me. Good find, Sayo."

"Ehehe, when I found out about her hobby, I just knew I had to bring her to the club to meet you!"

"Well, it's still yet to be seen if she's as _refined_ as me."

"I think finding someone else who's into underaged girls is impossible…"

"Can you not? One of these days someone's going to overhear your joking and mistake it as seriousness."

"Don't worry, if that happens, I'll just tell them that you're only into imaginary girls!"

"I can only imagine the horrors you'd unleash on the world if you became a lawyer…"

I sigh to myself, feeling exhausted from Sayori's teasing and the day's events.

"Ehe, well, at least today was a lot of fun, right?"

"I suppose so, but I'm not sure I really belong in a _literature _club, not to mention I'm the only guy there…"

"I'm sure we'll get some other guys as the year goes on! I'll make sure to double up my recruitment tactics."

"If you do, I'm not bailing you out of jail when you're charged for stalking."

"H-Hey! I promise Natsuki made it sound _way_ worse than it really was!"

"Having a hard time believing that, Sayori…"

Sayori tries to save face, but I mostly tune her out as I think back to what Monika mentioned earlier. _Never kissing someone, huh?..._ Somehow I just don't believe that. Someone like her just has to have done something as simple as that, _though, I guess someone could make the same argument for me._ My suspicions grow fiercer, and I begin to become even more questioning of my new club president.

"She _must_ be hiding something…"

"What was that?"

"O-Oh. Nothing, Sayori. Just talking to myself."

"Eh?" Sayori cocks her head in confusion as I refrain from explaining myself further, and the two of us continue along the path home, bringing an end to the first official meeting of the Literature Club.


	3. Chapter 3: Samudaya

**It seems I took a much longer break than I originally intended too. I apologize for that, ahaha. Some personal issues as well as technical ones prevented me from returning back to this site. This chapter in particular has actually been sitting in my files for months, waiting for the day I could post it. **

**Chapter 4 is also finished and will posted within the week.**

**Thank you for reading! ùwú**

Entering the club room, I'm greeted to an amazing sight. Near the back, Natsuki has crawled up onto one of the shelves as Sayori repeatedly attempts to grab something from her.

"Come on! Just a small bite!" She cries, channeling another high jump.

"No way! The last time you had a 'small bite' you left me with crumbs!" Natsuki stretches her arms high to avoid Sayori graps, but it's plainly obvious she can't hold out for much longer.

Sayori hasn't noticed me entering yet, but Natsuki spots me near the entrance and begins pleading for my help through her eyes. I let out a sigh then nod to her, confirming my assistance. Placing my bag quietly near the front, I begin to sneak up on Sayori as she continues to try and grasp at Natsuki's hand. Having gotten right behind her, I-

"Eh?!"

Wrap both my arms around her and begin to furiously tickle her armpits.  
"Ahaha! W-Wait! Eheheh! Sto-Stop!"

Sayori's always been especially ticklish, even as a child, so I've longed since perfected my technique to pacify her with seconds. It requires her to vulnerable though, which happens a lot less than you'd think. Her body starts losing strength and I manage to drag her away from the shelves enough for Natsuki to jump down and slip by the two of us.

"Ehehe~ N-Nooo!"

Seeing the coast is clear, I stop tickling Sayori, allowing her to go limp against me and catch her breath. Natsuki quickly gobbles down something before returning over to the two of us.

"Thanks, Mr. Secretary. Sayori here was beginning to wear me down."

"The exhaustion grows exponentially."

Sayori interjects, between her rugged breaths,

"M-Meanie…"

Only slightly acknowledging her, I decide to question Sayori about what she did wrong.

"So, mind telling me why you chased Natsuki up onto the shelves?" Natsuki answers for her.

"I came into the room with a few cookies leftover from lunch, so I decided to eat some as a snack. But when she walked in and saw my food, she started begging for some."

Sayori attempts to defend herself, "I just wanted a bite! She's the one who jumped up high!"

"I _did _give you a bite! You gobbled an entire cookie then wanted _more_!"

Nodding, I turn to Natsuki and give her a thumbs up. "Smart thinking. The Sayori only grows hungrier the one you feed it."

She seems proud of herself, her face glowing a slight red as she sticks her chest out slightly. Sayori, on the other hand, slacks with defeat, realizing that she has lost the battle. _Oh! I should take this chance to talk to Natsuki! _

"So, uh, Natsuki? You mentioned you read manga?"

"Well, _Sayori_ mentioned it, but yeah I do. What of it?"

"I was actually wondering what kinda series you—"

The club room door opens and Yuri walks in with Monika following not too far behind. Everyone's attention has shifted to our leader, so I stop talking and decide to wait until later to finish this conversation.

"Hello, hello! So sorry for being late, but I got completely caught up in work and didn't realize school had ended. Glad to see you all came back though!"

Monika immediately has jumped into her club president persona, placing her bag near the front desk before hopping over to the blackboard.

"So, seeing as we're all still pretty new with each other, I thought it'd make sense for us to continue with getting to know each other!"

Sayori bounces back from her loss, jumping out of my hands and joining the conversation with a renewed sense of excitement. "Does that mean we'll be playing the game again today?!"

Monika seems taken aback by her sudden enthusiasm, "Er…not exactly. I thought we should instead do something more, you know, relevant…"

"Relevant? And what would that be?" I ask.

"Well, each of us are no doubt into some form of reading. But have you ever really thought what it is about certain stories that really captivate you?"

Monika begins to write various genres and sub-genres onto the blackboard in a chart of some sort, listing various attributes and troupes associated with each.

"Every genre in writing has various traits, tropes, or writing styles that make is drawn to them. For instance, horror stories typically use descriptive imagery and people's desire to understand the unknown to lure in their audience. It's each of these aspects that work together to create what we love about them."

Monika's love of reading has come out in full, making me feel incredibly guilty for even being here. If she ever tried to directly have a conversation about literature, I'm sure a rock could produce a better constructed debate. I look to my sides, and find that the other members are just as amazed by Monika's speaking, looking at her with the same revere as one would hold to a goddess. She continues on.

"So I thought we could share what traits or even what specific genres we love and learn about each other like that!" She places down the piece of chalk and begins scanning the row for someone to call upon, signaling me to seek shelter behind Sayori  
"Yuri,"

_First __Casualty_

"Why don't you start us off?"

"Oh, uhm…" Yuri breaks from her admiration, not expecting to have been chosen first. She takes a moment to think, before starting.

"W-Well, I've always had a deep respect for fantasy stories."

"Huh, that was about the last thing I was expecting from you. Struck me more as a mystery novel kind-of girl." Natsuki retorts.

"W-Well, I suppose I don't read that many of them but I admire the way one composes such stories. Seeing how different writers create different interpretations of concepts, such as magic or divinities, or how they paint the world's history and setting…" Yuri looks to have awakened some inner passion, and begins to talk much more composed than she had prior. In this moment, I'm reminded of the beauty she held during our first encounter in the library, finding myself lost in the same trance as well.

"Writers can spend a great deal of time drafting and weighing in what ways each of those play into each other and how they affect the motivations of the characters or the plot. Through this, a world completely alien to our own can come to be fully fleshed out and completely immerse you. Of course, it isn't nearly as simply as I make it sound. There are a great deal of factors that can go into even the most asinine features. A good writer is one who is able to refine their ideas around these obstacles and execute them in a way that is entertaining to the audience." Taking a deep breath, she slows down from her literary high and slowly falls back into her usual timid demeanor.

"Ah! Ah! I-I'm sorry if I sounded a bit boring, I tend to get a little too wrapped up in my own head sometimes…"

Sayori quickly works to reassure her. "No no! That was wonderful, Yuri, I had no idea that you were so smart."  
"I-It's nothing, really! I wouldn't even call it intelligence, it was all just my opinion so..."

"You shouldn't disregard yourself so quickly, Yuri." Monika begins playing her president role once again. "That was genuine passion I felt there, I'm glad that you felt comfortable enough to share some of it with us."

"Yeah! You really have it all, don't you, Yuri? Beauty _and_ brains." Sayori adds.

All the praise makes Yuri sheepish, and she turns her face downwards and tries to hide herself behind her own hair. Sayori and Monika try to encourage her to share more, however they aren't successful and Monika decides to move onto someone else.

"Alright, then...Natsuki! Why don't you go next?"

The second shot snipes Natsuki, who recoils even more than Yuri had. If I had to guess, she's probably in the same boat as me.  
"A-Aha, well, uhm…a story's gotta have some humor, right? Some good jokes or character interactions that make me laugh keeps my attention."

"What about plot or writing elements?" Monika asks.

"Well, sure a good plot is nice but it's not like stories need a super cohesive or deep one to make them good. Stories without them are perfectly valid."

"That's a very different perspective, Natsuki, one I wasn't expecting one of us to take. I believe you're right though, sometimes it's nice not to read something without a terrible amount of thinking involved."

"Exactly. Overly dark or deep stories like the stuff they make us read in class tick me off."

Sayori, still comforting the fallen Yuri, inquries further. "Really? I usually just find them too hard to understand, ehe…"

"They're all too…stuffy, you know? Like, most seem to be written like the writers just stroking his own dictionary. They always have overly complicated language and long drawn out details to describe the most mundane things. It's like, 'get on with it already'. And then the teachers go on about how it's actually all a smaller metaphor in a bigger metaphor or something."

"That's definitely an exaggeration, but I think there's a certain charm to writings like that. It comes off as poetic and beautiful." Monika replies.

"Maybe to you, it's just kinda…cocky, and it makes them a pain to read. Not everything's got to be written like it's from the 1700's, simpler words work just as fine most the time."

_I was wrong, Natsuki's was just as thought-out as Yuri's, I'm going to be the odd man out if I don't make up something._

Sensing Natsuki's speech is over, Monika moves on and selects her second-to-last target. Her eyes seem to burn holes into my body, and I begin sweating as I anticipate the end.

"How about you follow up, Sayori?"

_Aaaaah! I'm going to be last!_

"Okay~" Sayori doesn't seem to realize she's just been executed, and happily begins her speech. Even if she has to embarrass herself, I feel a little better with her going before me, it'll help make me feel a less alone.

"Well~ I like really happy stories—Oh! But some sad stories are really good too! Hmmm…."

Sayori struggles to fully explain herself, looking as if her entire brain is on full-power just to continue her single sentence.

"Stories with both are the best though. Where that mix of happy and sad come together and create something uhmm…"

Yuri finishes her sentence. "Bittersweet."

"Yeah! That's the word! Bittersweet stories! Like romances stories, I really like those! I have a big pile of them back at home, though, I often forget where I am in them and end up restarting them constantly, ehe~"

_Damnit! She has a valid answer too! _If there was anyone here I was sure didn't read, it was Sayori. But it turns out even someone you've seen naked can hide secrets.

"That sounds just like you. Do you have any personal favorites?" Monika inquires. Sayori takes a moment to think, furrowing her brow as she tries and pull a distant memory.

"The Great Gatsby! We read that for English back in middle school and I really liked it, even if it was kind of hard for me to follow."

"Hey! Wait a second! You failed the test over that!" I interject.

"N-No, I didn't!"

"Yes you did! I remember you begging me to buy you ice cream to make you feel better."

"Shut up, Secretary! Even if I did, I can still have enjoyed the book, right?" Sayori looks to Monika for confirmation, who nods nervously in agreement.

"Well, it's not like a test score is able to gauge enjoyment, I suppose." She argues while Sayori smiles triumphantly.

"That's…fair." I concede.

"Now that we have you speaking, why don't you continue the discussion, I'm quite interested in what you like to read."

"T-That's…"

_Monika's final bullet has shot me while I had my back turned._

As the club's attention is drawn towards me, an increasing amount of anxiety clouds my thoughts as I quickly try to think of something to say. The only things I can think of are simply repeats of what the other members had said before me, and copying them will definitely expose my ignorance. Forcing my mouth apart, I force out the only appropriate response I can think of:

"I can't read."

"Eh?"

Monika immediately expresses confusion at my answer, Yuri and Natsuki seem to be taking a double-take, and Sayori-

"One…two…"

-isn't even paying attention.

"Secretary, you don't have to be embarrassed to share with us all. I'm sure that none of us here will judge your taste." Monika doesn't bite, and crushes my half-assed facade with words of encouragement.

"A-Aha, I get that but I'm not really sure what to say."

Having no where left to run, I decide to just give the truth.

"It's not like I really a favorite kind of genre or anything. I just sorta read whatever I think is good."

"What about those comics on your shelf?" Sayori adds, possibly in an attempt to save me.

"Comics?" Monika asks.

"Yeah, he's got ones about girls with swords and big bo—"

Hastily, I rush behind Sayori and pull on her hair, preventing her from ruining my reputation even further.

"Ow! What was that for?!"

"Huh? I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yes, you do! You just pulled my hair!"

"Are ya sure it that wasn't just your imagination? You do tend to daydream." "That's got nothing to—wait, can daydreams do stuff like that?!"

_What? __**You **__believed that?_

"Anyways, Monika, you've been asking all of us but what about you, huh? What do you like to read?" Taking the spotlight off of me, I throw Monika's own question back at her. She seems to have been waiting for someone to ask, as she quickly throws an ecstatic smile."  
"Ooh, well I like to read a bit of everything, actually. I'm always looking for different styles of storytelling to explore, so I've ended up dabbling in every genre. Horror, Romance, Mystery, Satires, Tragedies, even fables, a few epics…"

_That sounds much more intense than "dabbling". Is she bragging?_

"Whenever we'd end up reading something in class, I always make a note to read some other pieces from the same author. That's how I ended up F. Scott's _The Beautiful and Damned_, George Orwell's _Animal Farm_, Jean Racine's _Andromaque_, Homer's _Odyssey_, and the _Iliad_. I also had a small stint with _Twilight_ back in Middle School but…I'd rather forget about my time with those books, ehe."

_You're totally just bragging, Monika. _Yuri, seeming impressed, speaks up for the first time since her speech.

"Oooh? Then you must be familiar with Matterson's _I Am Legend_?"

"Yes, I actually read that not too recently after a friend introduced me to the original Night of the Living Dead film."

"I haven't had the time myself to begin reading it, but I have heard it paved the way for modern zombie stories."

"Well, Matterson treats the monsters like vampires, so while there aren't a lot of plot parallels, there are plenty narrative elements in it that you can recognize from zombie stories of today. I'd definitely recommend giving it a read, even if it's just for the piece of history it holds."

"I'll definitely give it a read once I can."

Natsuki stands off to the side with both me and the distressed Sayori, looking at Monika and Yuri like they're an unknown species.

"Book nerds…" I hear her mutter under her breath.

"Tell me about it."

Natsuki lets out a slight snicker and looks up at me with an approving smile. _It looks like I'm making a good enough impression on her. _As the conversation between our resident 'book-philes' continue, I remember me and Natsuki's conversation from earlier.

"So…uhh, I asked you about manga earlier, right?"

"Yeah, you did. Is there a reason you asked—or are you just going to judge me?"

Natsuki's voice is laced with a slight venom and her eyes squint into a defensive glare, one that reminds me of animals fighting over territory. I give a smile to try and calm her down. "I-I was just wondering what kind of things you read, actually."

Natsuki's eyes press into an even sharper stare, seemingly cutting into my very soul with her gaze alone. She looks me up and now before relenting slightly and motioning over to her bag. Shuffling through some papers and journals, she produces a book from her bag, seeming to take great care not to bend or crease the pages or cover.

"Parfait Girls…"

The title immediately signals my brain, digging up a memory I had all but forgotten about. Mental images of meaningless moe and asinine character dialogue fill my thoughts and an over-whelming sense of nostalgia hits me like a truck.

"Ooh! This series!"

Natsuki's face lights up instantly

"You know it?"

"Yeah! I read like the first two volumes of this back in middle school. I had found it in the school's library one day when I was…"

_Pretending to be a ninja, and bumped into a shelf. _

"Browsing for new series to read. I never actually got around to reading more of it since I ended up getting distracted with other things, so anything past volume two is gonna be beyond my knowledge."

"Huh…I wasn't expecting to ever meet someone else who was into Parfait Girls. It's actually…pretty surprising.."

I can see a small smile creep onto her face before she turns back to me.

"Isn't Yui kinda like—"

"Retarded?"

"Yeah. She's always doing the weirdest stuff, like how she followed around a turtle for an entire chapter.

"Or how she made a fire boiling water. But yeah, she's pretty braindead. Least the turtle chapter was pretty good besides that weird b-plot."

"Right? I really liked that gardening story, they even reference it later on. Like how Mayuri gets all her cooking ingredients from the garden."

"Ooh, I totally forgot she cooks. That's a cool detail, most slice-of-life stuff like Parfait Girls just keeps their stories episodic and throw continuity away."

"Yeah, it's like a reward for being an avid reader. You get all the in-jokes and small details. That's especially so in the later volumes, with years and years of stories piling on top of each other."

"Whoa, don't spoil me!"

"Oh shut up."

The two of us share in a small laugh, which catches the attention of Monika briefly, who remembers her job of running a club. She wraps up her conversation with Yuri and turns to all of us.

"Okay, everyone! Now that we've gotten ourselves a little more familiar with each other, I'd like to discuss what today's main club activity will be."

Taking a deep breath, Monika walks back over to the podium. She looks over the members, who have since found themselves in a semicircle focused around Monika.

"Each of us have shared today the kinds of stories we love to read, so I believe that we should continue by expanding our palettes and taking a dive into a genre we aren't all too familiar with. In the back of the book are a collection of books that I've gathered from the school's library and various teachers. I'd like each of us to choose something outside of our usual interests and read it, to discover a new experience we wouldn't normally. In fact-"

Turning towards the board, she directs our attention to the list of genres she had previous written down.

"I've organized this list where each genre is listed across from it's sort-of-opposite. Of course, some genres are a little too specific or broad to make direct choices, but I tried to make sure that you'd get to read something different."

"Very diligent work." Yuri praises.

Monika beams with pride, presenting to us her trademark smile. The members begin to look over the chart, finding out which genre they've been assigned. It isn't long until a fuss is raised.

"Wha—I have to read a horror book?!" Sayori cries. Monika doesn't seem surprised. My guess is she expected Sayori to be resistant to the idea.

"Well it's not like I'm going to force you, but I think it'd be a good chance to try out something different. Besides, it's not as if they're all dark and bleak, there's plenty of variety in the genre."

"When you say it like that, I can't refuse…Fine! Yuri!"

"Yes?!" Yuri jumps at Sayori's exclamation.

"Can you help me pick out a horror book? I don't really know what would be a good choice."

"I don't believe I'd be much of any help; our tastes are very different. But if you really want me to…"

"Yay, thanks Yuri! Come on!"

Sayori grabs ahold of Yuri's hand and drags her over the books. It's very obvious Yuri isn't very comfortable with how familiar Sayori is acting, but she definitely doesn't look completely against it either. I guess everyone's got a soft spot for someone like Sayori.

"Looks like we'll both get the same genre." I remark, trying to pull Natsuki back to another conversation.

"Yeah, but there's no genre like slice-of-life on the board. I guess the closest we can be is saying they're 'humor' but that means we're stuck with…"

Looking at the board, I see that comedy is directly across from tragedies, which probably means we're going to be stuck with one of those "stuffy" stories. The idea doesn't really mean much to me but I can tell Natsuki's definitely not a big fan of the idea.

"Let's just go find something." She says, turning around on her heel and walking towards the back with a huff.

Following suit, I find that Sayori has managed to make a mess of things with only a minute of headway. To her right various books that she has 'rejected' are sprawled across the table, luckily none of them seem to have been bent by her carelessness. Natsuki begins to look through Sayori's dejects, making sure to stack them once she has also discarded them.

"Hey, is this a horror book Yuri? It's got a dark cover and the text is kinda scary looking."

"Hm, well '_The Book Thief_' isn't really a happy story per say but I wouldn't consider it a horror one either. It's more just bleak historical fiction."

"Awh, I was _sure_ this one would be it."

Having lost another round of guessing, she adds the book to the pile of rejects.

"You know, you could be considerate and—"

"Oh!"

Pulling out another book, she pushes it over to Yuri for approval. Yuri looks at the book only for a second before her expression drops and her face lights up into a furious crimson. She attempts to say something, but she only is able to get so far before her embarrassment creates a roadblock.

"T-Tha-That's a uhm…"

"Eh? Are you alright Yuri?" Sayori doesn't seem to get what's going on either, a fact which only further makes me curious at what book she grabbed.

"Hey, lemme see that.."

"Huh? Sure. Here you go."

Grabbing the book from her, I soon realize the source of Yuri's disheveled state and begin to snicker slightly. Natsuki, looking over my shoulder, sees the book in my hands and joins in on the laughter. The lack of explanation from any one of us makes Sayori even more confused and she begins to nervously laugh along with us, as if she suddenly realized the joke. Her ridiculous look of confusion causes me to laugh even harder and I soon find it hard to breath.

"What's going on over here?"  
Monika joins up with us all, having now erased all the contents of the board. She shows just as much confusion as Sayori, admiring each of like patients in a mental ward before I manage to calm myself down long enough and explain.

"I didn't take you for someone of…such bold taste, Monika." I say, presenting the source of the calamity to her.

"What do you—"

Looking into my hands, she soon realizes what everyone else has.

In my hands, I hold a copy of an extremely popular erotic novel, which Sayori had mistaken for a horror book. The book is widely known for its explicit imagery and detailing of sexual acts, with some newer prints of the book even including suggestive illustrations courtesy of a popular h-artist.

"O-Oh…"

Monika comes to fully understand the scene in front of her, and begins to laugh in a similar manner as Sayori.

"I-I don't remember putting something like that in there. I guess one of the teachers must have tossed it in as an…'extra'."

_I must seek out this teacher._

"I'll just make a note to return this one."

Monika hesitantly grabs the book from my hand, holding it somewhat awkwardly before she sets it into the front pocket of her bag.

The scene all but cleared, Sayori begins to ask each of us about the contents of the book, but Yuri remains too embarrassed to clarify, while Natsuki and I only throw remarks such as "Wow, Sayori…" when she asks. She soon gives up and makes her way to a seat and begins to read a book Yuri picked out for her; Yuri does the same, and Natsuki and I find ourselves next to each other.

"Sayori's probably the most innocent person I've ever met. How does someone like that even make it _to_ highschool."

"Lots of hard work. I can't tell you how many times I've had to direct her away from the adult forums on S'New."

"S'New? You use that site?"

"Yeah, mostly for manga updates though; lots of translation groups like to use the site as a news feed. I use it for other things though, like a few communities and stuff."

"Ah, I only really use it to keep up with one community that I have some friends in. The community itself is garbage though, I always end up in arguments with someone in comments."

"Anonymity lets people be assholes, such is the way of the internet."

In a brief instance of silence between the two of us, Natsuki's phone pings and she looks down to check the cause.

"Speak of the devil. I just got pinged in a comment section."

"Try not to die."

"No promises." She remarks, giving me a half-serious sigh.

So far, I'd say my plan to get closer to Natsuki has been working remarkably well. I'm honestly pretty surprised with _myself_ at how well I've been able to keep up with conversation. _Don't worry, Sayori. I shalt not waste your gift to me._ The sound of my phone's buzz brings me down from my high, and back into the same world that Natsuki's fighting through. A commenter has decided to drag me into an argument they're having with a moderator. I look over to Natsuki, but she seems to still be occupied in her own battle, so I relent and decide to join the argument.

s-GallowBoob 1 minute ago

-Yo, **s-Oranges&Grapes**, I need your help. Minor here still doesn't believe that the Sparrow fella was the one harassing me. Can ya vouch for me?

s**-**InAMinor **Moderator** now

-U cant just claim some1s fucking with u and think we'll believe you. u have no shown no proof .

_And so, the Sparrow arc of my life continues…I had hoped that Gallow would stop trying to get me involved in this, especially since I hardly know the guy._

s-Oranges&Grapes (You) 1 minute ago

\- If this many people have been complaining about him (for well over a month) don't you think that's substantial proof to at least look into him, Minor? I know he's your friend, but you need to seriously lay off with your bias.

s-InAMinor **Moderator** now

-Sparrow has been a trusted mbr of the forum 4 years. stop actin like were ignoring you you know damn well why we dont take ur word seriously

_There they go again, bringing up the Blue incident.._ Minor, a moderator in the community, will most likely be the cause of my premature death due to the stress migraines they give me. Ever since I joined this forum, we've been at complete odds at each other, even more so once they got promoted to mod. I can appreciate their ideals of justice and fairness but it's nearly impossible to get them to back down, even when they've been proven wrong.

Out of my peripheral vision, I can see Natsuki's expressiong growing in frustration and I begin to wonder if she has her own internet rival like me.

…

The club's meeting slowly draws to a close and the conversation between me and Minor boils into an even fiercer and fiercer argument, the original topic of the discussion having long been thrown away.

"This freaking…"

To my left, Natsuki's own battle seems to have grown even more and more sour. She has begun to utter various curses under her breath and her face has become flushed with anger. Her anger seems to reach a boiling point and right before the club's hours comes to an end she gently places her phone onto the desk-

"I've had enough of this dick!"

She smashes her fists onto the desk, startling Yuri and Sayori from their books and Monika from her laptop. Realizing the scene she's caused, Natsuki's anger slowly cools and she settles herself into a newfound embarrassment. In the outburst, her phone had fallen off of the desk and she begins to look around for it. _Jesus, where did—Oh!_

To the left of my desk leg I find her phone, screen-side down and grab it for her.

"Rage quitting a forum board. Now I've seen it all."

"Yeah, there's this one fu-freaking jerk on the forum I always argue with. I'm starting to consider banning him, but he hasn't broken any of the rules."

"I'm not about to get demoted over some idiot online."

"Mod, huh? Tough work, that's why I always turn the position down, it's too much stress than I'm willing to deal with. Anyways, here's your pho—"

"Oh, thanks."

As she reaches for her phone my eyes drift down to the screen. Upon a quick gaze, my grip on the phone tightens. Natsuki tries to grab the phone from me, but is confused when she discovers all tightly I'm holding onto it.

"Uhh, can I have my phone back?"

"You're…"

In the moment I held Natsuki's phone, I snuck a peek at her S'New username, however what I find causes my blood to run cold.

"You're InAMinor."

"What how did—"

Natsuki soon realizes how I know that name, and her eyes widen in disbelief. For a moment, we simply sit there, motionless, and without sound. After around a minute or two of silence, we managed to utter a few short words.

"It can't be…"

"You've got to be kidding me…"

Sayori, having just put away her book, skips over to the two of us, completely oblivious to the tension in the air.

"So you're the dick always on my case!"

Whatever delusion Sayori previously held about the two of us is smashed as is the silence between me and Natsuki when she lets out a burst of angry air.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, on _your_ case? I'm not trying to constantly antagonize you! You know damn well I'm just being dragged into arguments I have no stake in!"

"_Really_? Because whenever I feel the need to post, for some _reasons_ you're always one of the first to comment."

"I do that for every fanart post, you aren't special, _sweetie_."

The two of us quickly jump right back into the argument we were having online. The three other club members seem at a complete loss on what to do.

"Hah, sure, whatever! This is actually an amazing day for me! I finally get to put a face to that irritating tone of yours, and I've got to say…

You look like an even bigger NEET than I imagined! That hair is a fucking mess and your blazer isn't doing too good keeping that fat hidden, tubs!"

"Oooh, don't act like you're some hot piece of ass! I've seen guys with bigger chests than you! Are you actually a girl or some creepy crossdressing exhibitionist?!"

"Wha—You sonnava—"

Monika tries to interject between the two of us.

"Uh, guys, don't you think you're going a little—"

"This doesn't involve you!"

Monika's attempt at resolution is quickly shut down. With a growing anger overwhelming my thought process, I realize I need to quickly end this argument before it gets worse.

"Come on, Sayori, let's just go home. I'm tired of dealing this gremlin."

"G-Gremlin?!"

Insulted, Natsuki has little time to think of a come back before I've dragged myself and Sayori out of the clubroom.

"Later, guys!" I yell in the hallway as I rush to begin the walk home.

…

…

Around five minutes away from the school, I begin to feel my rage subside; My face cools down and I regain the ability to think clearly. Sayori, on the other hand, remains just as uncomfortable as before as she skips awkwardly to my right.

"Oh, come on, say something. The suspense is killing me."

"A-Ah, sorry…I'm just not sure what _to_ say."

"Just say anything, your silence only makes me feel worse…"

"So, I guess my surprise ended up backfiring?"

"Big time."

"What even happened back there?"

"Well, I discovered a horrible truth about the relationship between me and our flattest member. It seems the two of us are destined rivals."

"So, you guys knew each other…?"

"Yes, we both frequent the same board on S'New. Turns out she's the one I'm constantly arguing with. Right before, we were arguing in DMs and when she knocked her phone off I found out she was the same person."

"Wait, wait…you guys were fighting because of a website?"

"It's more than a website, Sayori! It's a lifestyle."

"I don't get you at all…But! You need to apologize to her tomorrow!"

"Hell no! She's the one who came at _me!_ If anything, _she_ should apologize!"

"Come on! If neither of you do then the club's going to be ruined with your anonymity!"

"Animosity, Sayori."

"You get the point!"

"Ugh…I'll think about it. Right now, all I want to do is go home and relax, that gremlin's given me a massive headache."

"I guess that's good enough…Make sure to read the book from the club tonight~"

"We'll see~"

With the topic of resolution behind us, the two of us quickly float back into our usual groove. Reaching my house, I wave goodbye to Sayori before walking inside and putting an end to this roller-coaster day.

…

Leaning in my chair, I take a moment to stare up at the ceiling and think. _So, that plan to get Natsuki couldn't have gone worse. _Well, I guess it could've but…whatever, I get my own point! Despite that, I feel a great deal of disappointment at having blown my chance with Natsuki.

_Even if I didn't start the fight, I still feel like a complete tool for fueling it further._ The fight's vestige still lingers in my heart, birthing a sense of regret in me. In a vain attempt to distract myself, I begin to browse the other forums on S'New but the website itself only serves as an intense reminder of the squabble. Remembering my book, I reach into my bag and pull it out as a last ditch attempt at a distraction, however it instead brings up an even more painful memory.

_God, I embarrassed myself big time today. Not only did I get into a fight on the 2__nd__ day, but I couldn't give an answer during the discussion. _A second wave of embarrassment burns my face as I lift myself out of my chair and throw myself onto my bed in shame.

"I probably could've thought of something if everyone wasn't looking at me like…"

I throw these words into the silence of my room, somehow hoping to convince question of what I enjoy seems so simple on paper, but I find it painfully hard to answer once presented with it. There's no one thing I enjoy, no one genre, or specific writing style, or author, or _anything, _I just like what I like. The same hallow I gave Monika, which felt at least acceptable at the time, feels anticlimactic once I repeat it to myself. I throw the covers over my head and shuffle around in my sheets to try and summon some sleep to chase these thoughts of inadequacy from my head. As drowsiness overtakes me and my eyes grow heavy, a small, scary thought begins to bury itself into my mind before being replaced by the fuzzy silence of sleep.


	4. Chapter 4: Anussati

**Another Chapter that has been lying in wait for the day it shall be published. **

**As always, thanks for reading. Feel free to tell me if it sucks, I'd love to hear what you think. **

Class remains the same as usual, however time feels incredibly slow as the clock seems to grind increasingly slower while the teachers' speech mushes together into a mess of sounds and syllables. The students around me show no indication that they even acknowledge the teacher's presence and instead talk amongst themselves about everything and nothing.

"Oh, so Chie finally got herself a man, huh?"

The words of someone in the crowd seem to cut through the rest as they mention the name of a particular student. A slight ping of paranoia flows through my mind before being quietly strangled into silence by my mind flooding itself with other thoughts. I take a deep breath as the teacher turns away from the board and directs a more personal speech to the class. Despite the obvious attempt to grab their attention, no one looks towards him, in fact the chattering among them seems to grow stronger. He doesn't look fazed by this, perhaps used to a certain level of disrespect from students at this school, and instead continues on.

"As you all know, the school year is coming to an end and next month you will all have your finals before moving onto your senior year. The consolers have emailed us teachers to give out a friendly reminder to each of you that, while graduation may be more than a year away, it is very important each and every one of you consider your future career prospects."

End of the year speech already, huh? Another year of high school seems to have passed me in the blink of an eye. It seems only like last week when I forced by Sayori to join the Literature Club's first three meetings, eventually I was able to get her off my case and convince her to stop forcing me along. Since then, I haven't seen anything of her in person, since she's been so busy with being the vice-president and all; the rumors of a few students have allowed me to keep up-to-date on her life however.

_Even someone like her can find someone, huh?_

Through the social maze of rumors, I discovered she had found herself a boyfriend and the two have been overly affectionate whenever they could find the chance. Their lovey-dovey nature seems to be the focus of many of the student body's grievances. Monika seems to be as popular as ever, even recently winning some kind of award in a writing competition. There have been, of course, rumors that she has been sleeping around, but as far as I know there has been no actual proof of these claims.

_Damn shame too. Bet she's got a fine ass under that skirt._

I shake that perverted thought from my mind. As for the other two, what were their names? Natsuki and Yuri? I haven't heard anything I can trace back to them reliably. There was an incident with a girl getting into a gang fight during the 3rd quarter that _could_ have been Natsuki, but…

_I hear she's still in therapy after the aftermath._

I just casually pray neither of them were the victim. They say that girl still hasn't returned to school, and it will most likely stay like since the news is so wide-spread. As I narrated the year in my head, the teacher's drivel had continued on without me noticing, and with nothing else to do I return my attention to him.

"—So make sure to prepare for next month by studying over the material, even if it's as simple as one problem a day, it can go along way. Don't procrastinate, you may feel your youth will gone on forever, but eventually it'll catch up to you."

Funny enough, time seems to have come to a crawl, I haven't heard the ticking of the clock in a while due to the increasingly loud chatter of the students around me. It amazes me how easy it is for people to lose their concept of time.

"So, make sure to make the best of it. Study, of course, but take advantage of it the best you can. Go out with your friends. Date a cute girl or guy. Cause some trouble while your young. After all,"

The teacher begins to list off various ways to spend time, before closing off with a few simple words.

"Eventually everyone runs out of time."

"Everyone runs out…" I repeat his words to myself as the chatter from the students increases to an absurd level. People laughing and yelling take center stage.

With only a month till finals, I should probably begin to study a bit.

_Eh, I'll just go home and watch porn. Studying won't do anything for someone like me._

No, I really should study. I've got enough time left, I should use it.

_I haven't been paying attention to any of my classes, a month is hardly enough time to review it all._

The teacher turns back towards the chalk board, and his speech mushes together and becomes nothing but a mix of sound and syllables. The clock on the wall begins to cut through the chatter of students again, but the students themselves seem to become even more unhinged. I take a deep breath as the teacher turns away from the board and looks towards his class, ignoring their lack of attention, probably used to…

To…

"As you all know, the school year is coming to an end in two weeks so you will all have your finals starting next Monday. The consolers have emailed us teachers to give out a friendly reminder to each of you that, while graduation may be more than a year away, it is very important each and every one of you consider your future career prospects."

End of the year speech already, huh? Another year of high school seems to…

To…

"So, don't procrastinate with your studying. You only have so much time left with your friends here, so make sure not to waste it. Go cause trouble with your friends. Get that one girl or guy's number. After all,"

"Everyone runs out of time."

"Everyone runs out of time…" I repeat these words, which seem familiar on my tongue.

The teacher continues to stare out at all of us, perhaps expecting us to have some kind of reaction. He repeats himself.

"Everyone runs out of time."

"Everyone runs out of time…" I…wait…

The clock's ticking seems to get louder as I say this, beginning to rival the student's chatter. The words of a certain conversation seem to cut through the rest of the prattling.

"Dude, he definitely tried something. She confessed to it and everything."

These words send a ping of paranoia throughout my mind, which I try to quietly strangle by flooding my mind with inconsequential thoughts.

"Your youth isn't forever!" The teacher says, louder than before and with a renewed fervor. The ticking of the clock gets louder, dominating the sound in the room.

_That means you too._

"I know."

_Everyone runs out of time._

"I know that."

_Have you had enough time?._

"That's…"

The clock ticks. Tick tock. Tick Tock. Tick Tock. Tick Tock. Tick Tock. Tick Tock.

I stand up and walk over to the students talking about me. They don't acknowledge me and continue on.

"She was crying and shaking as she confessed. No one's been able to get the guy's identity out of her, even now, but even if we can't get the full truth…there's no way he didn't do something disgusting if she was like that."

The teacher screams.

"Don't forget! Eventually everyone runs out of time!"

The students continue.

"People like him are the scum of humanity. I would pay thousands to kick his ass to a bloody pulp. We should organize a hunt or something, do some investigating and try to find out his name so we can kick his ass."

_They're all misguided. That's why everyone's unfixable. They jump at the first chance to name you the villain when they don't even know the truth. You shouldn't feel bad, it's not true._

"I know."

_They're all running a mile when they've been given an inch. They don't even know who the person is. They're so far from any actual answer, and yet they act like they've got the whole case figured out._

"I know."

_Do you? You seem to hear me, but are you actually listening to what I'm saying? You've done nothing wrong. Stop feeling guilty._

"I am listening. I don't feel guilty at all."

_Then what are those tears running down your face for? _

The clock continues to tick tock

tick tock tick tock tick tock tick tock tick tock tick tock

tick tock tick tock tick tock tick tock tick tock tick tock tick tock tick

_Everyone's wrong. Ignorant. Disgusting. You're the only sane person in this asylum. _

The teacher belts out a string of unintelligible sounds.

"AAAAA AAAAA AAAAA AAAAA AAAAA AAAAA AAAAA AAAAA AAAAA AAAAA AAAAA AAAAA AAAAA AAAAA AAAAA AAAAA AAAAA AAAAA AAAAA AAAAA AAAAA AAAAA AAAAA AAAAA AAAAA AAAAA AAAAA AAAAA"

Clocks!

TICK TOCK

TICK TOCK

TICK TOCK

TICK TOCK

TICK CKTKC

TICK TICKTIC

TKCIKT OTOTPTO

TPTOPTOPTOK TOCK!

"TICK TOCK TICK TOCK TICK TOCK!"

EVERYONE IS CLOCKS. THEY ALL TOCK. TICK. RIGHT TO LEFT. SECONDS TO MINUTES, MINUTES TO HOURS. HOURS TO DAYS. DAYS TO MONTHS. MONTHS TO YEARS. YEARS TO DECADES. DEEEECADES ARE CENTURIES OF CENTURIES.

_You're running out of time._

"I know."

_Why aren't you doing anything?_

"I don't know what to do."

_Do you know anything?!_

_You're so helpless. Helplessly helpless. Useless. Stop projecting onto them. You're the misguided. The ignorant. The filth. The insane._

"I know."

_CAN YOU SAY ANYTHING ELSE?! _

The students in front of me became increasingly slower. The teacher begins to cry. The clock continues to talk about me.

"People like him are the scum of humanity. Wastes of space. Energy. Time. When we kill him, we should throw him into the oceans and let him become nothing but fish food."

The students  
tick and  
tock tick and  
tock tick and  
tock tick and  
tock tick and  
tock tick and  
tock tick and  
tock tick and  
tock tick and  
tock tick and  
tock tick and tock tick and tock tick and tock tick and tock tick and tock tick and tock tick and tock tick and tock.

My thoughts become drowned out by the sound of the clock. The students yelling becomes nothing but white noise in my brain. The teacher has stopped speaking and stares knowingly.

_**RIIING**_

The school bell rings, signaling the end of the school day. Our teacher finishes up his speech with a "Have a nice day" and the students begin to pack up their belongings and make their way out the room, meanwhile I sit idly and wait for her to show up. The door to the room opens, and from it a girl walks in. Her short dark brown sways left and right as she scans the room for someone, the students push past her without much regard. Once the room has been completely emptied, she spots me near the back and lights up instantly with her trademark smile. She rushes over to me and finds a seat on-top of my desk.

"What's up, Chie?" I ask her.

"You forget? Masao Inaba's new Isekai came out yesterday, which means the scan-lation is going to be posted tonight."

"Oooh, you're right. I had totally forgotten, let's hurry up to my place then."

I throw myself out of my chair and pick up my bag, hurriedly rushing out of the class with her in tow.

"The scans of art in IG were really good, he sure knows how to draw cute girls." She remarks, straining to keep up with my quick walking.

"Mr. Inaba was a H-Artist, remember? I'd hope he's good at drawing chicks. His dudes though…"

"Yeah…Tatsuya had like giant biceps and a girl's figure near the beginning of Tensei. It's amazing he made it so long in the hentai field without knowing how to draw guys."

"He mostly drew Shotas or Yuri stuff to avoid having to draw them. Least they got a lot better near the end, but they still look goofy sometimes. It was hard to take the final scene seriously when—"

"Tatsuya's right arm is twice the size of his left."

"Uh huh. The rest of the panel was beautifully drawn but then there's just his arm tumor."

"It's admirable in way he keeps trying though. He could've taken the easy route and draw girl only works. Maybe something like Parfait Girls or those other moe-trash shows."

"This new series definitely is more light-hearted than Tensei but I doubt he's completely shifted over to something nice and peaceful like that."

As the two of us step out into the school's courtyard, we find that a fair share of students are still lurking around. If I had to guess, most of them are in clubs or something.

"Lot of us freshmen joined a club or team first chance they got, huh?"

"Mhm. I don't get it why they would want to stick around school longer than they have to. These uniforms are way too restricting."

I glance down towards her chest, wondering what she could possibly be referring to if—

"Ah. I saw that."

"Sorry..."

I look away in shame as the two of us walk past a group of students, one of them taking a look at us before turning back to their friends.

"Aren't you worried about your hairband drawing your attention?"

"Eh?" Her hairband, brandishing a pair of soft-looking cat ears common in anime, is her most prominent feature. I'm amazed she can manage to wear that thing all the time.

"It's not like there's anyone or cares. No one's pointing it out or anything."

I take a glance around us, but it seems students are more invested in their conversations or club activities, like she suggested.

"I guess so. I'm just saying I'd be way too self-conscious to wear it. Especially if I did the same thing you were doing when you met me…"

"H-Hey! That was just a phase, alright? I had binged a bunch of magical girl anime over the summer and was copying it. You have to believe me, it corrodes the brain!"

"Nyah Nyah, in the name of love and peace, I will strike down all that embodies evil~"

"Shut up!" She lobs a weak punch into my shoulder with a huff. I continue to laugh at the memory of her past-self while the two of us turn out of the school and down the street to my house.

As I stifle the last of my laughter, I hear a voice from behind me call out. It's overly cheery and full of sunshine, so I immediately recognize who it is.

"Hey!" It calls out.

"Oh, hey Sayori." I turn around to greet the source directly. She runs up next to me without seeming to notice the girl on my right.

"You seem in a rush, anything special planned?"

Before I can answer, my magical accomplice responds for me.

"Yeah, two of us are rushin' to his place to read a new release."

"Oh, I see…"

She seems to be slightly disheartened by Chi's presence with the stride in Sayori's step seeming to dissipate instantly at her speaking up.

"So you two are going to hang out today?" She asks me.

"Yeah, might finally finish one of those seven anime we started too. It would be a good time, for once there's nothing too interesting airing. This season's been pretty dry."

"What about that one show with all the catgirls? We have to—"

"Ok, nevermind. We're starting that one tonight instead."

"It's the weekend too." She adds. "That means we can spend the night watching it too. Or even start one of my—"

"We're not watching a magical girl show. If your talk of "corrosion" is right, then I want nothing to do with that genre."

"You're dismissing a whole genre of quality shows! The negative effects to the mind are only temporary!"

"If it makes me a smooth-brain Chuunibyou like you were, I'm perfectly fine not having those benefits."

Chi continues to try and persuade me, but I remain firm in my stance of Anti-Magical Girls. Sayori continues to walk beside me, despite having no stance in the conversation, keeping her gaze firmly on the ground before speaking up.

"Sounds like you two have a fun weekend planned. I won't get in the way, so I'll see you later, alright?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, bye Sayori." I say, half paying attention. With that, Sayori begins to rushes ahead of us. Right before she completely passes me, I make out a few words from her.

"Her again…"

Huh? What was—" I turn to try and get Sayori to repeat herself, but by the time I do she's already far ahead of me. In my quick turn, I end up tripping over my own feet and lose my balance, sending me straight forward into the pavement

"Ah—"

…

* * *

…

I wake from my dream and find myself at my desk in school, right after the day has ended. Rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, I look towards the wall clock and barely make out the time.

"Sayori's-"

"Wah?! How'd you know I was here?!"

From behind me, Sayori cries out as I accidentally foil whatever plan she had to surprise me.

"Oh, there you are. You took so long I ended up falling asleep waiting for you."

"I wasn't that late, I only had to stay after for five minutes at most. You just need to get more sleep."

"Maybe." I say through a yawn. "Let's just get going. I've got an apology to make, right?"

"Oh, that's right! You better have thought of a good one."

"Yeah, I did. How does 'Sorry you're so irritable.' sound?"

"Hmph, your real apology better be much better than that."

"T-That was my real apology…"

…

The two of us make it to the club room, and find it to be completely empty minus one other member.

Yuri seems relieved to see the two of us walk in. "Ah, so there is a meeting today. I was beginning to worry that todays had been canceled and I simply missed the text."

"Where is everyone?" Sayori asks

"I'm not too sure. I came in and there wasn't a sign of anyone having come here today so I decided to wait."

"I guess even the school idol's late sometimes." I remark.

Sayori walks over to Yuri's desk while I find a place in the back. The two of them talk briefly about something before Sayori walks over to me.

"I'm going to go look for Monika. You keep Yuri company."

"Er, that's going to be—"

"A chance to make a new friend! Good luck!" Sayori sets off with a smile and a thumbs up. Leaving me and Yuri alone in the club room. The two of us watch as Sayori sprints as the room, and our gazes seem to naturally turn towards each other, but the moment we make eye contact we both turn away in embarrassment.

_God, this is so nerve-wracking. The last thing we said to each other was—_

_AAAAAA, just thinking about it makes my face twist up in embarrassment. _

The two of us continuously try to make conversation, but chicken out the moment we realize we're looking at each other. I begin to worry that this will go on until Sayori returns, but Yuri manages to break the curse and say something.

"S-So…we haven't spoken privately in a while…"

"Yeah, we haven't. Guess we've been too busy with club activities."

"Mhm. I hope Monika turns up soon. Or else we'll need to cancel today's meeting."

"Aha, she's probably fine, might have just gotten caught up by some friends."

Everything the two of us say feels extremely forced and robotic, each of us simply ping-ponging off what was said right before. It's almost as bad as the excruciating silence before, yet neither of us stop the conversation.

"Or maybe even some paperwork for the club. I'm not terribly sure what work needs to go in, but I'd imagine it's quite a bit."

"She did make me carry around and deliver a bunch of papers when I was helping her out, so it's probably a ridiculous amount."

The elephant in the room only grows bigger and bigger with each passing word. If I don't take the time to apologize now, I worry that the elephant will grow big enough to suffocate me every time I'm near Yuri.

_4, 3, 2…1!_

"Hey, I'm really sorry about that time in the library. I had a lot on my mind, and I was in a weird dazed state. I swear I wasn't trying to hit on you or something."

Counting down, I manage to spurt out what's been bothering me this whole time. Yuri looks surprised by how easily I seemed to mention that topic, and her gaze remains glued to the floor as she pushes out her own response.

"I-It's alright…I figured you weren't that kind of person after our second club meeting. Sayori and Monika both seem to like you a fair bit, so I can't imagine you being like how I originally thought."

She plays with her fingers as if she is preforming some kind of secret ninja technique as she speaks, the blush on her face growing brighter and brighter with each word she articulates. Hearing her accept my apology feels as if a gigantic weight has been lifted off me as I can practically feel the tension between us evaporate. The two of us make proper eye contact for the first time as she grows a sincere smile, one that I can't help but return. In this moment, I'm reminded once again of her natural beauty, but also a newly discovered gentleness to Yuri. She's obviously not too big on people and, if I had to guess, finds her comfort in her own mind more than potential friends.

"How much progress did you make in your story?" Yuri speaks up and slashes away the final bits of awkwardness between us with a friendly invitation to speak.

"Our stories?" Which reminds me the pressing issue of my book.

"…Oh god I didn't read any of it."

_I had been so caught up on the Natsuki thing yesterday that I hadn't even made a dent in my book. Do I even have it with me? I might've left it on my desk this morning._

"You didn't get to it? I suppose some people would be too busy to start it, did you have too much homework to focus on?"

"Aha—Oh my god I forgot about my homework too."

Yuri giggles, clearly amused by my scatterbrained responses.

"You and Sayori seem very much alike. It's little wonder how you two became such great friends."

"You've got your story wrong, I'm like this _because_ of Sayori. Her airheaded behavior starts to rub off on you after enough time."

"There may be some truth to your claim. If you mind keeping this a secret…"

Yuri waves her hand towards me, indicating she has something she wishes to share privately. I get out of my chair, find a seat right next to her and lean in.

"I forgot to read my book too."

Yuri seems to be the most composed out of us, or at least equal to Monika, so her being forgetful strikes me as something equivalent to Sayori controlling her appetite. An anomaly.

"I'm usually much better at keeping track of time, but yesterday I spent so much in thought that when I realized what time it was, there was hardly enough time for sleep, much less time to read."

"Ahh, I get like that sometimes. Though I'm usually looking at some sort of forum board and just get lost in a long chain of comments, then all of a sudden it's 1 am and I've spent a whole Saturday trying to track down a certain piece of fanart."

Yuri reaches down and begins to sift through her bag, quickly pulling out, presumably, her assigned book. "While we have the chance, I should try and make up for lost time."

Taking a look at the book's cover, I quickly recognize what Yuri chose.

"Sayori make you read the Great Gatsby?"

"Well, it was very hard to turn her down. She was very excited when she saw this in the basket and repeatedly told me about how good it was. I had never read the story before, so I figured now was as good a time as any. I wish she told me more about it than just how good it is though, I know next to nothing about it's actual plot."

"Ah, I _think_ I remember a small bit of? This dude moves to New York to work as a banker in the city, and he ends up moving next to this really rich dude named Gatsby. The whole book is basically about the mystery behind Gatsby's life, specifically his lost love of the main characters cousin."

Yuri gives a slight smile as a show that she's listening. Seeing that winning smile of her encourages me to continue on, even if I've already explained the gist of the story.

"The book's got a lot of symbolic stuff too, like how the prominent use of the color yellow to symbol Gatsby's presence in people's life. Or how the weather is always foreshadowing the state of the characters, especially during the big confrontation between Tom and Gatsby during the—"

It's around then I start to realize I've definitely said much more than I needed to and slowly silence myself as embarrassment works its magic.

"So, uh, yeah…it's a good book. I think."

"I'm sure it is, especially if it got you talking in such a frenzy about the weather."

"Ah, no, you've got me all wrong, I was just trying to sound smart is all."

"I don't think it's as simple as that. Yesterday, when you said you weren't much a reader, I found a bit a strange you would agree to join a club like this. But when you got talking about the book just now, I think it's pretty clear you have the same amount of interest in storytelling as the rest of us."

"N-No, I swear it isn't all that deep. I'm not some super analytic reader, hell I didn't even catch any of those things until the teacher pointed them out."

"And yet you remembered them. It must've had some sort of impression on you, right?"

"I-I guess…"

Yuri seems to realize how embarrassed I'm reacting and starts to nervously laugh herself.

"A-Ah, I'm sorry. It's just…you reminded me a small bit of myself."

"Huh?"

"Nothing! Nevermind! Just forget what I said!"

Yuri turns away and turns all her focus towards her book, shutting down any possible conversation. I decide to let what she said go and reach into my pocket for my phone. As I begin to pull it out, a slight pang of thirst strikes me and I decide to go buy something from the vending machines.

"I'mma go get something to drink. Do you want anything?"

"I'm fine. But I appreciate you being nice enough to ask."

With a nod, I step into the hallway and turn down the hall towards the nearest machine. As I approach I begin to make out the brief silhouette of someone sitting on the bench, and turn the corner to find-

"…"

Natsuki, who's staring down at her feet with a deep concentration, like she's in deep thought. She immediately notices my footsteps and looks up revealing to me her flustered expression, which is quickly replaced with one of annoyance.

_At least try to hide your disappointment._

"Yo, you decide to ditch club today?"

"What's it to you?"

"Tch. Last time I try to be nice to you. Least you could do is tell Sayori you're too busy, she's out looking for you and Monika."

"…"

Mentioning Sayori's concern seems to get through to her as she falls silent and looks back towards her feet with an even more strained expression. She looks sad enough to make feel a little bad for bringing it up. I take a seat next to her, and try to summon up the urge to make peace with my longtime rival, but I start to feel a similar anxiety to when me and Yuri were-

"Do you need something? I kind of want to be alone right now."

"Hey, don't interrupt my monologue, they're my biggest pieces of character development. But yeah, I do need something."

Natsuki doesn't look away from the floor, which makes it much easier to get out what I want to say.

"I wanted to apologize about yesterday, we sort of embarrassed ourselves in front of everyone and got too heated a stuff about something stupid. I shouldn't have acted that way and stuff."

"You're really reaching for that apology."

_Oi, least I'm trying. _

"But alright, it's whatever. Not like it was even the worst fight we've had either."

I let out a nervous laugh as I think back on some of me and Natsuki's fiercer online arguments. Our DM's could crush the heart of someone pure hearted like Sayori, or even Yuri. I look towards her and notice that her stare remains glued to the ground and start feeling a little awkward simply sitting there in silence with her.

"So, rough day huh?"

"What part of "I want to be alone" did you not understand?"

"Well I thought that maybe you—"

"Thought what? That I'd want to talk to _you_ of all people?"

I detect an increasing level of anger in her voice and begin trying to backpedal to avoid another fight so soon after my apology.

"No, but I was just trying to—"

"You are the last person I'd ever want to talk to about this. Word of advice, trying to be some smooth-talking Casanova doesn't suit your NEET-like appearance."

"Why are you getting so angry? I was just trying to lend an ear. You don't have to be a total bitch about it."

"You want to know why I'm angry?" She stands up and looks me in the eye with a fiery anger, one that I hadn't seen even during our argument.

"Because I've just have had one of the worst goddamn days of my life, and you come up to me and try to give me a half-assed apology that you _clearly_ didn't want to give. Then you try to play the hero and get me to talk about my feelings, when I had already told you buzz off. You guys always think you're some kind of knight in shining armor and that I'll just fall into your hands then jump into your beds and—"

"I apologized to you because I felt bad about blowing up at you, and you not only didn't apologize yourself but start throwing accusations at me! What guy would even be interested in someone like you anyways, you're as flat as a board!?"  
Natsuki' begins to shiver with anger and I feel an increasing desire to scream at the girl in front of me. She balls her hands into fists and delivers a punch directly to my face, more specifically my left eye, which knocks me onto my butt.

"Ah! What the hell…?!"

I hit the cold tiling of the hallway and watch as Natsuki turns around and begins to walk away.

"You…" is all she manages to get out before a stream of tears makes its way down her face and she sprints off towards the stairs, leaving me clutching my eye in pain and extremely confused.

I manage to pull myself to my feet and decide to give up on grabbing something to drink, heading back into the club room. Yuri looks up, mostly likely expecting Monika and Sayori to come through, but is shocked to see me walk in instead.

"A-Assistant, what happened to your eye?"

"Ah, crap, did she leave a bruise?"

Yuri puts away her book and rushes over to me, looking over my bruised eye with a motherly concern in her gaze.

"Did you hit your head on the way there? This looks pretty bad."

"Nah, I just ran into our club's resident goblin and she socked me hard. Definitely a lot of power in that girl's right hook…"

"Goblin? Do you mean that Natsuki did this to you?"

"Yeah, I found her sitting on a bench and decided to ask her about why she was ditching club. It kind of got heated, as you can see."

"I suppose she's had a bad day, but even then, to punch you in the eye for trying to ask feels out of character for her."

"Well, we've only really known her for like two days, so I guess you misjudged her. So far, she seems to just be a big bitch."

Yuri winces at my casual profanity, and I start to regret being so aggressive in my phrasing. She's clearly unsatisfied with my analysis of Natsuki, but doesn't look like she'll argue further.

"That aside, we should deal with the swelling…here, give me a moment."

Yuri returns to her desk and retrieves a metal container from her bag. She rushes past me and heads down the hall. I decided to take my old seat next to Yuri and wait for her to return, which doesn't take too long. She walks over to me and places the container against my eye, which I instantly realize is freezing cold and I recoil violently.

"I-I'm sorry, I should've told you how cold it was."

"It's fine, just surprised me is all."

Yuri places the frigid cylinder against my eye again and it isn't long before I start to feel the pain subside.

"This is the best I can do, I don't carry ice packs with me and the nurse has no doubt locked up already so…"

"Don't worry about it so much, Yuri. Your concern alone is enough to make me feel better."

"Is that so?"

Yuri looks away from me as she continues to hold the make-shift ice pack in place.

_Ah, this shy side to her is so adorable._

As time ticks away, Yuri continues to look away from me, occasionally looking back at me with the same nervous glancing the two of us practiced earlier. It's when I start to wonder why she's so embarrassed that I realize the intimacy of the situation the two of us are in.

_We're real close right now. And instead of handing me the container herself, Yuri's the one holding it for me. To anyone passing by, we'd definitely look like some gross lovey-dovey couple._

A flush slowly crawls across my face as my lack of experience causes my brain to lock up. It's then when—

"Ahhh….I'm back~ I looked everwhere but I couldn't find Monika."

Sayori returns from her search and walks in on this peculiar scene straight from a RomCom. Her and Yuri's eyes immediately meet as she looks over the two of us with a complex expression.

"O-Oh, aha, you two sure have gotten close."

"I-It's not like that. He just uhm—"

Yuri looks back to me as if I'm capable of saving this situation. I'm touched by her faith in me, but unfortunately, I couldn't do much better than she can. Nonetheless, I give it my best shot.

"I ended up getting a black eye while you were out, Sayori. Yuri was just helping me by holding this cold container to my eye."

"Why didn't you just hold it yourself though? Did you get your arm injured too?" Sayori presses further with more logical reasoning than I'm used to from her, and I can't even begin to form a solid answer to her question.

"T-That's…"

_A good question. Why did Yuri hold the bottle for me? Is she flirting with me?! B-But we've only known each other two days, it can't possibly be that! That's just my overactive virgin mind trying to work me up._

"Y-You said you couldn't find Monika?" Yuri desperately tries to change the subject and while Sayori doesn't look she'll let the discussion go fully, she relents and moves on.

"Yeah, she wasn't in her classroom, or in the teacher's office and none of her classmates seemed to know where she was. It's like she vanished completely."

"Yuri said she saw her earlier though. Do you think she forgot about the club and went home?"

As I say that, Yuri and Sayori's phones both go off and they pull them out to read whatever notification they've received.

"Ah. It's a text in the Club group chat. Monika says that something important came up and she had to leave early. Meeting canceled, apparently"

_So I am being left out!_

"Alright, well then I guess there's no reason to hang around here anymore." I say with a sigh. Yuri begins to pack away her book and stands up.

"I think I'll start making my way home then. You can keep the book, F. Scott."

"F. Scott?"

"W-Well, you know, cuz of your…speech earlier when I asked about…"

Yuri seems to have said this accidently and quickly tries to explain herself with little success.

"N-Nevermind. I'll see you two next week. Goodbye!" She walks quickly out the club room, leaving me alone with the confused Sayori.

_Ah, wait, she forgot her water bottle._

"What was that about?" Sayori asks me.

"Nothing. She just asked about the Great Gatsby earlier since you made her read it."

"It's not like I forced her or anything…" she says with a pout.

"But she even left her bottle here. Should we run to return it to her?"

"Eh, we can just give it back to her on Monday," I say nonchalantly. "Besides, that means I can keep using it for my eye."

"Your eye? Ah! What happened to your eye?!"

"A bit late to the party, Sayori…"

Sayori walks over and seats herself in the same desk Yuri was at while I tell her the story of my war scare.

"That doesn't sound like Natsuki at all. There's no way she'd ever attack someone like that unless they attacked her first."

"I don't know what to tell ya, Sayo. Girl knocked me clean off my feet and left me with this mess."

"Something must be going on. Maybe she's being bullied or something, or failing a class, or—"

"Personally, I just think she's a bitch. I even apologized to her about yesterday before it all happened, but she said it was half-assed."

"No, that's not her at all, I swear! I need to text her when I get home, something's clearly wrong with her."

"Look, I don't really care. I'm just saying so far, all she's done is fight with me and give me a bruise. There is little reason for me to like her."

"I-I guess so, but still…"

Sayori looks just as dissatisfied with my conclusion as Yuri was and, just like Yuri, refrains from pushing further.

"Anyways, can ya hand me the 'ice pack'? I'm starting to feel the numbness wear off."

"Oh, here, I can hold it for you!"

Sayori grabs the container from the desk and hastily aims it towards my face, however she doesn't slowly down or even aim correctly and ends up bonking me in the forehead with the metal bottom.

"OW! Careful, Sayori!"

"Ah! I'm sorry, I didn't mean to—"

"It's whatever, just hand me the bottle."

I grab the bottle from her hand and hold it to my eye on my own.

"Give me a minute, then we can start heading home, alright?"

"Y-Yeah, ok. If you don't mind, I'm going to go grab something to drink from the vending machines really quick."

"Here," I pull out my wallet and toss her a few notes "I figured you wouldn't have any cash on hand so…"

"Oh, thanks! I'll be right back!"

"Mhm."

Sayori rushes out the room, cash in hand and turns towards the stairwell.

_Oh, right, there's machines over there too._

…

…

"What kind of soda does he like…"

I say this to myself as I look over the selection of drinks in the machine. I had planned to buy him something with my own money, but since he gave me some bills I should at least use them. He drinks too much soda in a day, but I'm sure one would be enough of an apology for bonking him in the head.

_I should've been more careful, but I was so caught up on him and Yuri that I…_

I shake my head and try to rid myself of those thoughts. The more I think about it, the deeper the pit in my stomach becomes. Just thinking about the scene between him and Yuri…

_Ah, I'm doing it again._

Clicking one of the selections that looks familiar to me, the machines gives out a clink as the drink drops to the bottom. As I reach down and grab it, I hear a quiet noise coming from the stairs. I grab the drink and then look over towards the steps to find the source.

"That's...Natsuki…"

She seems to be crying, occasionally letting out sniffles and hic-ups. As I start to approach her, she grabs a small metal container that was lying next to her and takes a long sip.

_Should I go over there? From what he said, she seems to want to be alone right now…_

Weighing the options, I decide that I should probably leave her alone and text her about this later, when she's calmed down. Besides…

_I want some alone time with him too…_


	5. Chapter 5: Skandha

Standing up to stretch, I let an exhausted yawn escape from my lips. My left eye is still swelled but thanks to Yuri's water bottle, most of the pain I felt has disappeared. I look towards my computer's display and realize I should start to make dinner.

_My stomach seems to agree_.

Stepping down the stairs, I begin to make out various noises seemingly coming from my kitchen. At first, I'm not sure what to make of them, but I quickly realize what's going on when I hear the click of my oven's dials.

_Wait, she can't seriously be…!_

Panic rushes through me and I jump down the remaining sets of stairs, bursting into the kitchen.

"Sayori!"

"Oh, hey, are you hungry? I was just—"

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

Sayori tilts her head in confusion as she haphazardly turns the pointed-edge of a knife towards me.

"I'm making you something to eat, obviously. I said I'd take care of you as long as that eye's all…yuk."

"And I told you I didn't need your help. It's a black-eye, not a broken limb. Besides…"

I march over to her and, carefully, remove the knife from her hand.

"You shouldn't ever be in the kitchen."

"Wha?!"

Following the literature club meeting, Sayori decided that she'd act as my caretaker for the weekend. I, of course, tried to slam the door shut on her, but she managed to sneak in through the windows since I had forgotten to lock them back when I was window-hopping. It'd be much harder to throw her out at this point so I allowed her to stay, but I refuse to let her cook me anything.

"Don't "wha?!" me! You know what happens when you try to cook!"

"It's been years since last time! You think I haven't been improving? I'll have you know that I can make an _edible_ omelet now!

"Truly an accomplishment. But you don't need a knife to make an omelet, so please…"

I walk behind Sayori and start to shove her into the living room.

"Get out. If you're going to be a pain and stick around, the least you can do is avoid burning my house down."

"B-But, I can do this! I promise, this time, no one will get burned!

"Can you promise I won't suffer irreversible mental damage?"

"Well, now you're asking for the impossible…"

"Let's go."

She relents and I finally manage to pull her away from the oven.

"I'll just make something later, alright?

Sayori's obviously not satisfied with that compromise, crossing her arms and turning away from me, but all I do is shake my head and sigh in response.

"I obviously can't leave you out of my sight, so I'll babysit you until you decide to go home."

"I'm not a child…," She says, pouting childishly. "Besides, I'm the one who is supposed to be taking care of you!"

"I think you need to be able to take care of yourself before you take care of other people. And you're being way too pushy over a black eye…"

"Well, isn't it nice to hang out like this? We haven't had a sleepover in forever."

"You just said you weren't a child…We're too old to doing stuff like that. It'd be dangerous if it got out that the two of us are sleeping over at each other house."

"Friends can hang out with each other! Besides, it's not like anyone is going to find out."

"I can't tell if you're failing at being flirtatious or are just stupid…"

I look towards my TV and consider finding something to watch on there, but...

"Never anything good on nowadays." I utter quietly.

"You're starting to sound like an old man, ehe~"

"I _am_ old, Sayori. I've got maybe like three years left before I kick the bucket."

I strain my voice to try and mimic an elderly tone.

"Don't worry, your nurse here will—"

"No cooking. You'll knock those three years to three _hours_."

"Dang it."

_If there's nothing down here, I guess I can try to distract her with something in my room._

"Come on."

"Hm?"

Sayori cocks her head quizzically as I signal her to follow me. She doesn't say much and the two of us return back to my room.

After Sayori finds a seat on my bed, I walk over to my closet and begin to push aside my various sets of school uniform to find my manga collection. I almost never collect any, since I mostly just read them pirated online, but I've got quite a few from around two years ago.

"Yo, Sayo. Come over here."

She makes her way beside me and begins to look over my collection.

"Whoa…I don't know what any of this is."

"It's my manga collection. Look for something you like, it's better than you being anywhere near the oven."

"Hmph…"

She pouts but reluctantly makes her way through the various books, taking a glance at their covers before she moves them to the side.

"Hey, careful. A few of these are hard to find nowadays."

"Oh, sorry…Hm? What's this one?"

After going through most of the pile, she's made her way to a particularly decorated book cover. It's primarily pink, accented with various other shades of pink, making it extremely obvious who the intended demographic is.

"This book's really cute~ I didn't know you had something like this."

"I didn't either…"

Taking it in my hands, it slowly starts to look familiar, and a flood of memories rushes back to me.

"Oh, this is one of Chie's books."

"O-Oh…that explains why it's so cute."

Her mood immediately drops.

"Yeah…"

The book, Nyan-Nyan Sugar Girls, is a half-parody of magical girl manga. Perhaps most well-known for its use of cynical humor and exaggerated characters, it was a particular favorite of my old friend. She most likely left it over one night she was here and simply never noticed she had lost it.

"Well, do you want to read it? You can even keep it if you like it enough."

"Really?"

"Yeah, not like she's going to get it back."

"Hmm, alright~"

Sayori seems happy with her pick and hops back over to my bed, immediately opening up its cover and reading it. I chuckle at how happy she seems to be. I stand back up and seat myself in my computer chair before resuming a chapter I began last night.

The two of us spend a while simply reading next to each other quietly. It feels…nostalgic in a weird way, even though the two of us never have read anything together. Maybe I'm just enjoying the company; I guess Sayori was onto something about spending time together.

_Or maybe I'm just a sappy guy._

I start to feel a bit excited about having her over for the weekend. Though, that does remind me…

"Shouldn't you go home and change out of your uniform if you're going to be here the whole weekend?"

"I hadn't thought of that. Ehe, I guess I was too caught up with your eye."

"You should hurry up and do that, otherwise it'll be dark before you realize it, and I'm not going to walk back with you just because you're too scared."

"Don't worry, I'll go back home and grab something in a second~"

"Right…"

_She's really caught up on this eye-thing_

I suppose her concern is a bit endearing, but it's honestly more suffocating than anything else. As I think of my eye, I start to feel the pain return. I get up and head towards the kitchen.

"Where are you going?"

"Ah, my eye's starting to bother me again. I put Yuri's bottle in the fridge earlier, so I'mma go grab it."

"Okay~"

I turn back towards my door and open it, only to be greeted with a deep smog of black. It comes rushing into my face and I flail around as I try to blow it away. The scent of burning pushes its way into my nostrils.

"Oh goddamnit!"

I rush into the dark fog and hurriedly run down my stairs, taking a sharp turn into my kitchen that almost smashes me against the wall. Sayori had noticed my flailing and apparently decided to follow me down the stairs. She doesn't have nearly as much luck halting her speed.

"Wah!"

And ends up smacking into the wall.

I quickly locate the source of the smoke, my oven, and rush over to it and twist its dials to turn off the heat.

Opening the oven itself, I'm assaulted by an even more potent burning smell and an even denser fog of soot that slightly burns my face. I hastily look around for a towel or something I can use to retrieve the burning food. Sayori, having recovered from her fall, rushes over to my side and hands me the pair of oven mitts.

Only half-slipping my hands in, I lunge at the tray inside my oven and pull out the burnt item, throwing it into my sink and quickly soaking it in cold water. With my house saved, I throw the mitts onto my table and take a deep breath, pulling out one of the chairs and taking a seat.

"Why the hell did—"

The tray somehow catches fire despite being most definitely being doused in water and I jump back up, reaching out for the sink's hose and directing its full blast towards the in-progress flame.

I fight with all my might to quell the fire, which takes a lot longer than I thought it would've, soaking my head and arms almost entirely. I hadn't put the mitts back on, so my hands are exposed to the full brunt of heat coming from the metal tray, but it isn't enough pain to keep the adrenaline rushing through me from gripping onto it tightly.

I can feel the burning sensation begin to fade as my efforts slowly lessen the flame. Eventually, I manage to completely put out the fire, making sure to take precautions and wash the tray entirely on my own.

Sayori stands a considerable distance behind me, perhaps in fear of getting caught in a potential 'second fire', staring at my frantic efforts in shock. When the entire tray has been washed clean and its original contents washed down my drain, I throw the hose, still extended, into the basin of my sink along with the ruined tray. I take a few cautious steps back, half expecting it to burst into another fire, before taking a hesitant seat in a chair. Sayori slowly walks over to me and pats me on the shoulder.

"Sayori…"

"Y-Yeah…"

"You get three seconds to start talking before I grab that hose over there and chase you out of my house."

"W-Well…"

She hesitates, avoiding look towards me by looking at the, still smoldering, oven.

"I wanted to surprise you with how good I was getting at cooking. So, I tried to bake some cookies, because you had some of those refrigerated dough rolls…"

She says each word with an extreme amount of reluctance, obviously having to force each word out of her mouth.

"Then when you dragged me into your bedroom, I just…forgot about them…"

"…"

"U-Uhm…I-I'm sorr—"

Sayori doesn't get to finish the rest of her sentence.

Because I reach for the sink hose and douse her anyways.

…

The two of us have found ourselves back on the couch. Sayori lays flat on the smaller of the pair with a defeated expression across her face.

"I told you what would happen if you touched the kitchen."

"But you said that after I already put them in! That shouldn't count!"

"Honestly, I don't really care. I'm more focused on the fact you almost burned my house down."

Sayori sits up to face me.

"Yeah, well even then did you need to soak me!? I had to run home and change in my wet uniform…"

"I would've given you some of my clothes, but it was funnier to watch you run in wet clothes."

"Meanie…" She says, crossing her arms and pouting.

"Ahaha."

As I laugh at Sayori, my stomach begins to grumble from the lack of food. I haven't eaten since lunch and it's already getting sorta late. I consider heading back into the kitchen but-

"Pizza." Sayori exclaims out of nowhere.

"Excuse me?"

"You're hungry, I'm hungry. Let's order pizza."

"Why the hell would I listen to you right after you put my house at risk?"

"B-Because we're friends?"

"Our friendship is like a car, Sayori. The longer I have it, the less valuable it becomes."

"Wha?!

"Besides, my kitchen—"

At this moment, I recall out empty my cabinets previously were. In fact, I'm not really sure there'd even be enough to make food for the two of us.

_Plus, the thought of going in there so soon after the fire ignites some sort of fight-or-flight response in me._

Sayori seems just as reluctant to step in my kitchen too.

"Alright, fine. Let me see how much I've got left in my wallet."

"Can we get dessert."

"No."

"Whaaa?"

"Refer back to Chapter 1. We can have dessert once you pay me back."

"Hmmph…"

Sayori prepares to use the nuclear-option, her puppy eyes, but I quickly look away and begin to count the cash in my wallet.

_Really running low. I need to cut back on feeding Sayori's desires. I need to buy some groceries too, otherwise, this weekend will leave me drained._

I grab my card and toss it to Sayori, placing my wallet into my back pocket.

"I'm going to buy stuff. Can you order the pizza for us? I'll most likely be here before they arrive."

Sayori gives me a stern nod. "Aye, aye!" I return it and wave goodbye to her as I step outside and begin the walk to the store.

…

It doesn't take long for the spring heat to get to me, and not even ten minutes into my walk I start to feel tired.

_Damn you, morning star! You and your Vitamin D are the bane of my existence._

To my left, I notice a park and decide to take a break. Despite its "park status", it feels more like an abandoned lot, with no real equipment or amenities that would suggest it's meant for people to play in aside from a brick building that houses dual bathrooms. I locate a bench underneath a canopy and hurry over to it.

_Ah, this is better~_

With the sun no longer shining directly onto me, I quickly begin to cool off. My lack of stamina is extremely pathetic, probably even when compared to someone sheltered like Yuri, but it's hardly ever a necessary skill so I often just ignore it.

_Sure does make days like these hard, though._

I sigh in slight frustration. As I lean backward, I catch a glimpse of some figure coming out of the bathroom. They readjust their collar before looking over and noticing me; The bright sun keeps me from making out who the person is until I have reached fairly close.

"Ah, Assistant~ I thought it was you."

"Oh…it's you, Monika."

"You say that like you're disappointed, were you expecting someone else?"

"No, I just didn't think I'd see you at all today. You weren't at the club today."

"I'm really sorry about that. I had to tend to some business outside of school and didn't have enough time yesterday to plan something in advance."

"Well, it's not like I was super bothered by it. We ended up hanging out a while anyways though. What're you doing over here, though?"

"That 'business' I had to take care of brought me over here. What about you? You look like you've had outrun a cheetah or very angry Natsuki."

"A-Ah, I'm just going shopping. My house is…uhh, far away from this park, ya know?"

_Please buy it._

"Really? It's amazing you and Sayori can get to school each day then."

"Y-Yeah! It's a real challenge, but we're both up to it."

_Wait, why am I even trying to hide my lack of stamina from Monika? It's not like I particularly care for her. Tch, I just did something instinctively again! What's this girl doing to me…_

"Hmm, is that so?~"

"Y-Yep."

_I need to get away from her. I'm starting to feel really embarrassed._

"Anyways! I've taken enough of a break, so I'mma head to the store. It was nice talking to."

I throw Monika a backhanded a wave and quickly rush to leave the lot.

"Hey!"

_Goddamit._

I sigh and turn my head towards her slightly.

"If you wouldn't mind, do you think I can join you for a bit?"

"Well, I was sorta hoping to rush through shopping…"

I say with that, but even I realize how fruitless trying to fight back is; Monika doesn't seem like she'll take 'no' in this situation, besides, right now she's got on that smile of hers.

_Don't think you can get away with using that smile forever! It won't work on everyone!_

_Unfortunately, it will work on me though…_

I silently curse myself before turning back forward with another sigh.

"Sure, come on."

"Thanks~" She says with a smile, rushing over to my side. I drop my head in defeat and the two of us turn down the road, beginning the walk to the store.

"So, you said you had business in this part of town? Mind clueing in at least one member of your club?"

"Aha…I was beginning to wonder when you'd bring that up. If you don't mind, I'd prefer to keep that a secret."

"Very suspicious…"

"I assure you it's nothing illegal. At least, in this country." I throw her an inquisitive look, but all she does is wink at me.

"Everyone's got their secrets, Assistant~"

"Fair enough. Just a bit shitty to make a club and not even after a full week, you have to cancel a meeting."

"Trust me, I wouldn't have done it unless it was absolutely necessary. It just…"

She begins to trail off, "It came up so suddenly."

"Hmm…"

Monika seems to daydream, or something of a similar manner, so I take the time to recover from the exhaustion of having to talk to her. It's not every day I need to speak to someone as beautiful as Monika, and it's taking a toll on me already. Though, that might be a result of my anxiety around her, rather than my pathetic, virgin heart. Her secrecy isn't helping my anxiety either.

"So, did you manage to make up to Natsuki?"

"Eh? Oh, not exactly." I point towards my blackened eye. "Take a guess."

"That's what I was afraid of…" Monika sighs. "She seems like a real prideful girl, so of course it would've been impossible to get her to accept your apology, much less even listen to you."

"I'll have you know I did manage to get out an apology. She just blew up on me afterward because of something else." Monika cocks her head, and I simply throw her back a shrug.

"Don't ask me. Not like she told me anything about it. Least Yuri's much nicer than that hobbit. She even gave me her water-bottle to use as an ice-pack."

"I leave for a day and you've already gotten so far with one of my club members. You're one Casanova~" She nudges with her elbow slightly

"A-Ah, no, nothing like that. It was just—"

I franticly try to explain myself to Monika as the heat in my face rises. She giggles as I stutter over my words more and more.

"You sure get flustered easily~ It's kind of cute."

"E-Eh?!"

"Ehe~"

_I was right. She's a demon. A succubus out to toy with the hearts of men._

"Maybe I should start carrying holy water…"

"What was that?"

"Oh, nothing. Just a little joke to myself."

"Hmmm…"

"Anyways, you seem to have quite a bit of free time. Shouldn't you be studying, oh 'Top of the Class'?"

"I almost never study, I actually have a fair bit of free time."

_A natural genius? The guy upstairs just loved you, huh?_

"Well, if not school, then surely you've got some friends or a—"

I cut myself off, realizing how awkward bringing up her relationship status could be.

"Friends or a what now?"

"Nothing, just forget it."

"Hmmm?~ If you say so."

_I swear I saw a smirk on her face just now…_

"Most of my 'friends' are only really school friends. You know, the kind you only talk to at school and because of circumstance."

"Ahhh, I getcha. All of my friends have been like that."

"All besides Sayori."

"She's an exception, I don't think I ever had a _chance _to keep her like that. She's so energetic that she would follow me home after school all the time. Even if I moved to another continent, I'm sure she'd find a way to visit me while still going to school here."

"She really likes you, huh? I'm a bit jealous of how close the two of you are."

"I've told you it's nothing special, just the natural result of years and years of being around each other."

"Then what're you smiling like that for?~"

"Eh?"

Her remark confuses me, but I soon realize my own smile. I quickly return to my previous natural frown. She starts to giggle at me again.

_I don't think I can take more of her teasing! How much longer till we—_

As the thought crosses my mind, I spot the store and begin to walk quicker.

"Come on, we're almost there."

"Coming, coming."

…

The two of us turn into the small corner store. Monika seems put off by its appearance.

"This place looks…compact."

"It's pretty trashy-looking, I know, but I've always shopped here. It stops feeling sketchy after the fifth visit or so. Besides, they've got everything I need." I point towards one of the dusty machines that are partly obscured by the various boards lockers outside. "They even have cheap capsule machines."

Moving on from the cheap toys, we step into the store and are greeted by a cool blast of A.C.

_The joys of the modern world~_

"So, what're we shopping for anyways?"

"Just some frozen foods and stuff. Sayori's over for the weekend, so I need to stock up on somethings before she drains my account with sweets and take-out."

"Oh? A boy and girl sleeping over? Isn't that a bit…"

_Shit! I just ratted myself out!_

"I-It's nothing like that. She insisted on staying over after seeing my eye. She keeps acting like it's something super serious."

"Such a caring friend."

"It's more suffocating than anything…"

"Aw, don't be like that. She's just trying to look out for you."

"I know that, but you can _too_ caring."

Monika sighs.

"Poor girl…he's a black hole…"

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing~"

_As the thought of Sayori has crossed my mind again, a fear I hadn't thought of immediately pops into my head._

"Monika, let's hurry. I have the sneaking suspicion if we take too long that I'll have to sleep in the clubroom from now on."

"U-Uhm, alright?"

…

We make quick work of most of the list, however, I slow Monika down when it comes to the frozen foods.

"Is there something wrong with just picking something?"

"Something very wrong. Some of these taste like warm mush, so you need to choose carefully."

I pull up to the sliding-door display of the frozen aisle and start to search for a certain brand. Once I spot them, I begin to sort through the various boxes.

"What are you doing?"

"Looking for the Pepperoni ones. Plain cheese pizza is a travesty and crime against humanity."

"You're quite knowledgeable about this stuff, huh?"

"Hardly, this is just all common-sense stuff you pick up on given enough time. A few of my internet colleagues are able to sniff out the best ones simply by feeling the boxes."

"I…can't even imagine how that's possible."

"I can only dream of being that talented."

Placing a few boxes into my basket, I begin walking over towards the cashier.

"Hey, do you mind going ahead of me? I need to do some shopping of my own."

"What do ya need? We can grab it right now."

"It's…girl stuff."

"Oh? Oooh…"

_Oh._

"Yeah, I'll see ya in a bit then."

"Thanks. I won't be too long."

Paying for my items, I step out of the store and wait idly by the entrance. As I wait, I pull out my phone and begin to check up on S'New. Ever since our argument yesterday, Natsuki hasn't logged in. While missing a day or two normally wouldn't mean much, she was almost constantly active beforehand so I'm sure a few of her moderating buddies are a bit worried. As for me, I couldn't really care less, but I'm still curious so I shoot one of the mods a DM before turning back the store.

As I wait, one of the capsule machines I previously showed Monika catches my eye.

"I might have enough…?"

A quick look into my pocket confirms my guess.

Placing a coin into the machine, I rotate its rusty crank and not soon after a small capsule pops out. Inside the capsule is an aged dog toy with some of its paint having been chipped off, exposing its plastic base.

I place the imperfect toy into my pocket and walk back over to the store's entrance.

Monika's taking quite a while for grabbing "girl stuff".

_Wait, why the hell am I even waiting for her? This was the perfect opportunity to get her off my tail. _

Just as I begin to walk away, the store's doors open and Monika comes out carrying a small plastic bag.

_Figures…_

"Thanks for waiting, I ended up needing more than I thought."

"It's whatever, let's just get walking. It's starting to get late."

The two of us, bags in hand, finally begin the walk back home. I groan a bit thinking the trek back home.

"Something wrong?"

"Nothing important. I'm just really tired is all."

"You should rest once you get home. Otherwise, you'll feel even worse tomorrow."

"I wasn't planning on doing anything strenuous this weekend, but I'll keep that in mind. It's mostly just from school, I always get this exhausted when I get home."

"Yeah, school has a way of draining you."

"I'm sure it's much worse for you, considering you're literally a school goddess."

"Aha, you have no idea. It feels like I'm constantly having to deal with someone else. On top of school work, and now the club…"

Monika sighs and begins to slack slightly, an expression that seems to both fit her perfectly and completely contradicts her image.

"Even more so with all those rumors circling around about you, huh?"

Of course, I'd never find out the truth of these by asking her directly. If what they say is true, she'd probably fight to the death to keep them secret, and she'd just as feverishly deny it if she's innocent. But if I can judge her reaction, it might help me make some conclusions.

"Aha..yeah."

However, her reaction is almost non-existent. It's almost unnerving how little of a reaction she had. If I had to guess, she's tired of hearing about it. I decide not to press further, but she takes the lead herself.

"I'm not even sure where they began. But before I knew it, I had dozens of girls coming up to me, asking me about them, then dozens of guys…you know…"

"I guess a few were bound to be brave enough to walk up to you."

"It's exhausting."

She turns away from me, staring at seemingly nothing. I notice that restraint in her expression again, however, it seems much somber than the last time I saw it. The walk quickly falls into silence, something which seems to have become fairly common in my life as of recently. However, seeing Monika with that sort of pensive stare feels unnatural. I've only ever seen her with her trademark smile, or a teasing grin. I look ahead and decide to continue our walk in silence.

As we walk past the same park, Monika finally speaks up again.

"Do you mind if we take a break?"

I'm just about to suggest I run on ahead when I take another look towards her face. Her expression has become melancholic and I find myself unable to deny her request.

"Sure."

The two of us, bags in hand, take a seat on the same benches we had earlier. Nothing is said between as we do so, the two of us simply stare towards some imaginary object in the sky. Monika's expression doesn't change. Time begins to pass by, and it's only when I've counted the third cloud crossing my field of vision that I realize how much time we've spent there. I look towards Monika again,

"Should we get going now?"

She doesn't respond. My question seems to have gone in one ear and out the other.

"Hey, Assistant." She says, still looking towards the sky.

"What is it?"

"Do you have a dream?"

_Oh, so we're just going to ignore my question then._

Slightly out of scorn, I turn and look in the opposite direction of her.

"Why do you ask?"

"I was simply curious."

"I see. Well, I guess I want to at least live to be 50. Oh, and to not die via fire, that's a particularly terrible way to go out. Those are more wishes though."

I hear her slightly giggle.

"So, nothing then?"

"Don't got to make fun of me…"

"I wasn't, I promise. I was just hoping you knew what it was like to have expectations of yourself."

"Are you sure you aren't making fun of me?"

"Positive~"

…

Silence falls between us for another short while before she speaks up again.

"I'm not sure what I want to be in life yet."

"Does anyone ever?"

"At our age, I guess not. But I've begun thinking about it a lot more recently. We don't have as much time left as we used to. This school year's only begun, but before long we'll be seniors. Then graduates."

_Yet again, another reminder of time. _

"That's all two years away, basically all the time in the world to think about it."

"Even then, don't you wish you had some kind of idea _now_? Don't you feel lost without one?"

Perhaps it was the beautiful day overhead, or maybe it was simply because I was feeling particularly relaxed that day. Whatever the reason, I responded with…

"I try not to think about it."

I hear her turn to me and we make eye contact once again. I don't think she was surprised by my response itself or anything. Nor do I think she expected me to have the answers to her problem. No. I think she was most surprised by how honest I was.

"That's an option, yeah, though I'd rather have an actual answer. But I don't know what that thing is yet. And then I start to worry slightly. It feels like everyone around me has those same expectations of me, that I'll go on and do something amazing, that'll change the world."

"You are the school's top student…"

"So, I'm reminded. Almost every single day. It's suffocating how often people remind me of my grades, or my looks, or their expectations of me…"

"I guess It would be. Though, I can't say I'm too knowledgeable on that stuff."

"What do you mean?"

"No one's ever expected anything of me. Teacher's never paid any special attention to me, and those around me basically ignore my presence most the time."

"Does that ever make you lonely?"

That word strikes a certain chord within me, and I feel a familiar pit in my stomach. Despite that, I take a breath and answer her.

"No, I don't really care about people."

Monika looks me in the eye once again, but this time it isn't surprise on her face. Rather, some kind of bittersweet smile. "Is that so…"

"I think ever since I've formed the Literature Club, I've felt much more at ease with school. It's almost cathartic to share my love of reading."

"Everyone has their releases."

"Yeah, we all do…"

I notice a shift in Monika's tone as she says that last sentence; It's a tone I haven't heard from her before. Almost as if waiting to break the mood, her phone goes off and I turn back towards her. She unlocks the screen and quickly reads over whatever notification she received. Her expression seems to break as she stares intensely at her shopping bag.

"I should be going! I've definitely been out for too long."

"Oh, yeah."

The two of us rise to our feet.

"Thanks for entertaining me for a while~"

"I didn't really do anything. I just talked with you."

"Sometimes that's all you need."

She turns to walk away. Right as she reaches the park's entrance, she turns her head slightly back to me.

"By the way…"

She winks flirtatiously.

"You're a real sweetheart, you know that?"

Despite the smile looking just like the rest of hers, it chilled me down to my very core. It was a smile devoid of any real meaning or sentiment. Almost as if it were just a handshake rather than an expression of emotion.

Monika turns down the left corner and disappears from my sight.

While I couldn't really get any information on the validity of those rumors, she seems genuinely distressed by them, which I expected. I also saw a fairly somber side to her just now. I can't but feel as if I'm much closer to her. Perhaps the best evidence of that is how I began to slacken my posture around her.

_And I finally confirmed something I had suspected of her._

…

"She really is as fake as they come."

…

…

…

Stepping into my house, I notice something is off, most notably…

"Sayori."

"Oh! Welcome back~ The pizza got here a bit ago, so I ate some of it."

"Yeah. I noticed the empty box by the entrance."

"Don't worry, there's more in the kitchen."

I look towards my counter and notice two more boxes of pizza, one of which has been opened and seems to missing all but two slices. To the right of that is a box holding a few glazed cinnamon rolls.

"…"

"Hm?"

Sayori watches as I place my groceries in the kitchen and begin to rummage through the pull-out cabinets. Locating a hammer, I grab ahold of it and make my way back towards my door.

"Sayori?"

"Yes?"

"Do you still use that piggybank from back in middle school?"

"Hmm, sometimes. Why?"

I place the hammers head into the palm of my left hand.

"Just curious."

A light seems to go off in Sayori's head as she realizes what exactly I'm planning. I assume she began to try and convince me, but she was too late.

The next moment, I'm already running over towards her house.

"WAIT! LEAVE SIR PIGLET OUT OF THIS!" She shouts as she rushes out my front door.

"IF HIS DEADBEAT OWNER CAN'T PAY UP, THEN I'LL BEAT HIM TILL HE'S DEAD!"

…

…

…

Stuffing a slice of lukewarm pizza into my mouth, I turn to my right and stare at the shivering pile of meat that I call my best friend.

"Are you going to stop cradling that thing soon?" I ask.

"No! If I let my guard down, you'll just swoop in and destroy him!"

Her grip on the ceramic pig tightens as she draws it closer to her chest, all the while keeping her line of sight on me.

"Come on, relax. I was kidding about smashing him."

"Liar!"

_She doesn't seem like she'll let up. _

I start to wonder if she'll be on guard the whole night before I remember the contents of my pocket.

I call out to her, "Here, will this work as a show of non-aggression."

Pulling out the small capsule, I toss it over to Sayori. To my surprise, she catches it, although only just barely.

"What's this?" She asks.

"It's a toy I got while shopping. I saw the machines while I was waiting for Monika to finish shopping and thought I'd buy you something."

"Monika? Why were you hanging out with her?"

"Oh, I ran into her while I was walking to the store and she decided to come along."

"I thought she was busy, what was she doing hanging out around town?"

I detect an abnormal amount of 'venom' in Sayori's words, but I decide to ignore it and simply shrug.

"Hell if I know, she just said that she had 'business' over there earlier and finished it up just as she saw me."

"If she had time to walk around, she could've at least made sure to warn us the club was canceled for the day."

"She said it was sudden, and she seemed pretty serious about it. I'm sure it just slipped her mind."

My laid-back responses seem to knock Sayori back into her usual mood. She looks away from me with an ashamed look on her face.

"Is that so?" she says nervously.

Her voice becomes quieter and she stares at the capsule with a distant expression.

_At least her mood changed, but I'm not sure I like this Sayori any better._

I attempt to change the topic by asking her "You going to open it?"

"Oh! Right!"

She quickly grabs ahold of the capsule and pops the dome off, causing the plastic dog to almost fall onto the ground. Taking the toy into her hands, she takes a moment to study it before smiling with her signature smile.

"Aw, look at him. He's so cute."

"You think so? I thought he was kinda strange-looking, especially with that bit of chipped off paint."

"That's what makes him unique! Thanks~ I'll take good care of him and take him on walks every night."

"You'll need to conquer your fear of the night first."

"For Jonathan, I'll do anything!"

"Jonathan?"

"Yeah, that's what I'm going to call him."

"You named your plushies 'Mr. Cow' and 'Borb', and your piggy bank 'Lil. P'. But you give the cheap plastic dog a normal name?"

"He can't have a silly name like that. Can't you tell he's a professional and serious dog! He needs a serious name to go along with it."

"Figuring out the workings of your mind should be one of the Millennium Prize Problems..."

Turning back to the TV, I leave Sayori to stare in wonder at her new toy. I feel a smile creep onto my face as I watch her play around with the small dog in my peripheral vision.

Suddenly, I feel a sudden force collide with me. Right after it collides with my side, a pair of arms wrap themselves around me.

"S-Sayori, you don't need to be so—"

"T-There's a mouse."

"Huh?"

I direct my eyes along Sayori's pointed finger and make eye contact with a small, furry bundle of white.

…

_Squeak_

…

"H-He must've been attracted by all the pizza."

"Five boxes of pizza _would_ be like a feast to him and his rodent brethren…"

"D-Do we just wait for him to scurry away?"

"I have a better idea."

I look Sayori in the eye and firmly grip her shoulder. As we make eye contact, I flash her a confidant smile; Sayori's face seems to flush slightly at my show of masculinity. With more willpower than I've ever mustered up before, I-

"TAKE HER, YOU FURRY BASTARD!"

-Throw her directly in the path of the mouse.

"AH! YOU TRAITOR!"

The mouse scurries backward to avoid being crushed by Sayori's weight. I take the opportunity to grab one of the untouched boxes of pizza and run up my stairs.

"Good luck, Sayori! If you're alive by tomorrow morning, I'm sure we'll be able to laugh about this."

"WAIT! DON'T JUST LEAVE ME HERE!"

Pizza box in hand, I rush up the stairs and run into my bedroom. Once I make it inside, I quickly grab ahold of my bookshelf and throw it onto its side, barricading my door. Almost immediately afterward, Sayori comes banging against my door.

"You can't just leave me out here!"

"Like hell I can't! It's your fault that creature woke up anyways!"

"Do you want an apology?! I'm sorry! I'm sorry for buying five boxes of pizza! I'm sorry for buying dessert! Just don't leave me out here with it!"

"Even if I wanted to accept those apologies, I can't do anything about it now. The shelf's been knocked over. You're on your own."

"What?! You're joking, right?! Why'd you stop talking?! Hey! Come on! Stop joking around and let me in!"

"Dear Lord in heaven..."

"Huh?! What are you—"

Sayori's sentence is interrupted by her own blood-chilling scream

"AHHH!"

All goes silent as Sayori lets out a final screech of terror. It's at this moment I've realized that my childhood friend has finally passed on.

_Auf Wiedersehen, Sayori._

After taking the time to offer my prayer for my departed friend, I stand up and reach for a slice of pizza.

"Huh?"

As I chew on a lukewarm slice, I notice the manga I had given Sayori earlier thrown carelessly on the ground.

_She must've tossed it earlier..._

I reach down and examine the page, finding that it, miraculously, doesn't appear to have been creased or torn at all.

_She's still as careless as ever._

I take a glance at the page that's been left open and instantly recall the entire volume's plot. With that, the memories of my acquisition flood back to me as well.

…

…

…

"Ya sure it's alright if I have this issue? It's the first one so it's bound to worth a fair bit, right?" I ask, staring down at the manga in my hands. I'm slightly hesitant to accept it, honestly, but if it's a gift I'm basically forced to.

"Yeah, it's fine. We're friends, right? If I ever wanna read it again, I can just ask for it back or come over."

"I suppose that's true..."

Chie, having long changed into a more comfortable set of clothes, falls backward onto my bed with her limbs outstretched.

"Though, that doesn't mean you can just treat it like any kind of book. Nyan-Nyan Sugar Girls is a series of the highest caliber. As a result, you must treat that manga with the same level of care you would give a newborn." She says with an undue amount of enthusiasm.

"That would've almost sounded cool if it came from anyone else..."

As I say that, I lay next to her, taking care not to lay onto of her.

"I'm not really interested in magical girl stuff though. I doubt I'll get much enjoyment from this."

"Don't discredit it from the name alone. I'll have you know that—"

"Yeah, yeah. 'Highest caliber'. But honestly, you saying that only makes me more worried."

Chie lifts her hand and lightly bonks me on the head.

"Just give it a chance, ok? I wouldn't have given it to you if I felt there was no chance you'd enjoy it."

"Alright, alright..." I relent to avoid provoking her wrath any further. I toss the manga onto my computer desk for later before returning my gaze to the ceiling.

"Are we gonna do anything else this weekend?"

"I don't know. I didn't expect us to go through _everything_ already..."

I try and gauge the timespan of our marathon before responding to her.

"It took a lot less time than I expected, honestly. What is it, 2am?"

"Uhm..."

Chie reaches into her pocket and takes a glance at her phone's lock screen.

"Holy crap, it's 12pm on _Saturday_."

"We've been at it for almost 24 hours?!"

"Time flies when you're watching boobs jiggle. But when they're gone, it feels as if life loses its luster..."

"You're a different kind of pervert entirely."

"Don't act like you're not into Ecchi anime either. Besides, there's more to me than that."

"Like your love of incest porn?"

"It was one doujin!"

"I'm sure it was..."

She delivers another bonk to my head, this one significantly harder.

"It's just a drawing, there's nothing wrong with it. Also, don't try to lecture me you borderline lolicon."

"All my girls are 18 or older, thank you."

"Then find porn where the girls don't have the bodies of 5th graders..."

...

Nothing is said for a while as the two of us simply stare intensely at my ceiling. Feeling my stomach start to cry out for food, I try and start another conversation

"Hey, we should get something to—"

As I turn to speak to her, I find a sight that would stick with me for a lifetime. Chie, after nearly a day of catching up on anime with me, had fallen asleep in the middle of our conversation.

"Oi, Chie, are ya really out?"

I poke her face to try and wake up, but she has almost no reaction to it.

This would be the first of many more times throughout my freshmen year that Chie would fall asleep on my bed, but this particular event would always remain the most memorable to me. Though, I might simply be biased. After all, it was then that I realized...

"Tch. Whatever..."

Thinking back on that day only causes me to cringe in embarrassment. So the moment I remember exactly what I was thinking I try to toss the memory completely out of my mind.

And let it become yet another addition to my painful memory book.


End file.
